WYATT’S “WHO SO LIST"

WYATT’S “WHO SO LIST”

To analyse the poem without intentional fallacy, it is important to know that the poet was in love with Anne Boleyn (Queen of England from 1533 to 1536; second wife to Henry VIII) before her marriage. It is also important to notice that Wyatt was experimenting writing the sonnet; the English sonnet did not take its final shape until Shakespeare.
The poem is mainly a love poem. The references to nature are nothing but part of the Elizabethan style. It starts with an invitation to hunt from which the organizer is suddenly excluded. The description of the target of the hunting is scattered here and there intentionally, of course. The poet tries to keep the reader interested by arousing suspense (which is a dramatic means, yet very helpful to him here). Suspense is carefully interwoven through the delay of details, negation of all that might be expected, and the speaker’s weird interest in the object of the hunt.
The reader is forced, thus, to follow the speaker (who is supposedly the poet himself) through the lines pausing only when the speaker rests. Invitation to a hunt followed by setting the aim (the hind) then the exclusion of the host may sound unusual but it succeeds to direct our attention towards the possibility of having a challenge. It is not to be done for sports’ sake, of course; therefore, the aim is mystified. Contrasted images are given later as he depicts his physique to be willing to follow but too weak to do while his mind is fainting yet keeps following. The opposing body-and-mind images revive the old struggle of the willing spirit and the feeble flesh. He soon declares his defeat yet announces the challenge to be over for others, too. He is certain they would never be closer than he ever was.
The hind’s (or the lady’s) chase is abandoned in the last four lines of the sonnet as the speaker describes a necklace inscribed in diamond that belonged to her. The pendant proclaims the hind to be the property of a powerful male (Caesar’s) and, thus, must be spared the hunt.
The speaker must have gotten too close to read the inscription around her neck and be warned. His closeness to her did not give him the right to hunt her. He gave up for the warning’s sake only. He finally realizes she belongs to another.
The rhyme scheme of the poem is abbaabbacddcee. Supposedly the sonnet is a modified Italian form; however, the division of ideas was done in a completely wrong way by Wyatt. He mistakenly placed the conclusion in the last four lines, instead of two.