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4:56 pm
October 14, 2009
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I was researching for a paper for my British Literature course and found some Thomas Wyatt poems. This one has been identified with Anne Boleyn.
Who so list to hunt, I know where is an hind,
But as for me, helas, I may no more:
The vain travail hath wearied me so sore.
I am of them that farthest cometh behind.
Yet may I by no means my wearied mind
Draw from the deer: but as she fleeth afore,
Fainting I follow. I leave off therefore,
Since in a net I seek to hold the wind.
Who list her hunt I put him out of doubt,
As well as I may spend this time in vain:
And, graven with diamonds, in letter plain
There is written her fair neck round about:
Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am,
And wild for to hold though I seem tame.
12:58 pm
February 16, 2009
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Wyatt's \”Whoso List to Hunt\” is an interesting poem. I think he's talking about Anne being out of reach and his love for her being hopeless because she is Henry's – \”Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am\”.
Historian and author Karen Lindsey, writer of “Divorced, Beheaded, Survived: A Feminist Reinterpretation of the Wives of Henry VIII”, reads something deeper into the poem and wonders if Anne was actually a victim of sexual harassment. She writes of Anne:-
“It was a hellish position. Could she really tell the king to his face that she had no interest in him? She could reiterate her desire to keep her chastity and her honor, but clearly he didn’t respect that. She could ignore his letters and stay away from court, but he refused to take the hint. To offer him the outright insult he asked for would be to risk not only her own but her father’s and brother’s careers at court. She undoubtedly kept hoping he would tire of the chase and transfer his attentions to some newer lady-in-waiting.
But he didn’t and she was trapped: there was no chance of her making a good marriage when every eligible nobleman knew the king wanted her. She began to realize she would have to give in. [as Wyatt wrote in his poem 'Whoso list to hunt'] ‘Nole me tangere, for Caesar’s I am”.
Virtually every account of Anne’s story cites the poem, yet its central image is ignored. Anne was a creature being hunted, and hunted by the king — like the buck he had killed and so proudly sent to her. There could be no refuge from the royal assault; no one would risk protecting her from Henry’s chase. She could run, hide, dodge for a time, but the royal hunter would eventually track down his prey. And he would destroy her. The hunt was not an archaic metaphor in sixteenth century life, it was a vivid integral part of that life and everyone knew what happened to the wild creature at the end.”
So, was Anne like the deer being hunted down ny Henry? It is an interesting theory.
Thanks for transcribing that poem, Wyatt definitely had a way with words.
What else are you doing in British Literature?
Debunking the myths about Anne Boleyn
3:55 pm
October 3, 2009
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This is the thing about Anne's story that always \”got\” me. She was between a rock and a hard place. She subtly rebuked the King's advances as much as she could. But in the long run there was no way that she could completely deter him.
All the versions of her being painted as this coniving, maniplulative woman may have not been far off. I just think for the wrong reasons. She didn't chose the situation, it chose her. She just made it work forHER! She used it to her and her family's advantage. Because honestly, what other choice did she have? I don't think she would even have been allowed to leave the country if she wanted
I think that she when she lashed out at him later on (when she mocked his poetry, clothes, impotence, etc) her pent up anger at being cornered into being with him was evident.
XO-Gina
5:50 pm
October 14, 2009
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I definitely think Anne was the deer being hunted by Henry. In all accounts of the history it's always very evident that Henry made advances towards Anne first, but did Anne purposely catch his eye first? Did her family push her to be his mistress after Mary? I think Anne was very smart and used the situation to her advantage and sadly that was also the result of her downfall-she showed the lion his own strength, especially since he didn't have to listen to the Catholic Church anymore.
The class covers everything in British Literature to the 18th century. We just finished reading some things from Swift (A Modest Proposal and Gulliver's Travels) It's a good class, although a lot of it feels like I'm repeating a class I took my junior year in high school-we covered the same things, but it's always good to go back with more information/life experience and reread and learn more.
