Thomas Wyatt’s “Farewell Love as conventional Elizabethan love poem/ melancholic love poem.
Thomas Wyatt was one of the earliest poets of the English Renaissance. He was responsible for many innovations in English poetry and, alongside Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, introduced the sonnet from Italy into England. His lyrics show tenderness of feeling and purity of diction. He is one of the originators of the convention in love poetry according to which the mistress is painted as hard-hearted and cruel.
The poet in the poem "Farewell Love" bids adieu to the rules personified love. Most of the poems by Wyatt are actually gloomy and melancholic in tone. The stock element of a frustrated lover who is separated from an unkind mistress .The lover blames the lady for being unyielding and unfeeling for him. The vision of love the poet expresses is one of cruel and unfortunate immobility, or lack of control.
Immediately, the poem begins with Wyatt leaving behind a love that he describes as “baited” and “entangling.” The poet challenges that the "baited hooks" will not be able to stop him from walking away.
The poet accuses his lover’s “baited hooks” (l. 1) for having begotten such a trap. Hooks not only serve to catch entities, but they are also used to hang them. In this light, what may seem like innocent lover’s games may prove deadly for the poet’s or any man’s reputation.
The term “hooks” may also be a deliberate reference to the curves of a woman, since the beauty of the female body often ensnares men. “Baited hooks” concocts fish imagery and fishermen commonly catch fish by baiting smaller ones. In a similar manner, man’s desires and identity can be baited against him to ultimately lead to his downfall. Descriptions of fish have notably been used throughout literature to represent the vagina, underscoring the concept of the female body’s natural ability to seduce men. This natural ability is no more than the “laws” (l. 1) of nature and natural attraction.
He says that he is called away for love of knowledge by Seneca and Plato to reach the apex of wit and intellect. The author gives changing thoughts when he emphasizes that the cruel words of love pricked him when he made certain mistakes. He says was in his favour since freedom was his lever. In the final deliberation the poet takes leave sagging that love no longer has authority over him and it be directed towards “young hearts".
In this poem the poet casts love away, exhausted and sickened by the troubles it has caused him over time. He endeavours to educate himself and move on from the urge to follow his heart and yet again be destroyed by a feeling he cannot control once he allows himself to indulge. The negative tone and the way that Wyatt sees knowledge and wealth as ultimate achievements makes this poem seem like an admonishment to those who fall into the trap of love, and a way of establishing his superiority by foregoing love.
Farewell Love is work that carries a poignant mood of the poet, composed in England during the renaissance period, especially with the idea of love at that time of Tudor Monarchy. During this era, a man unable to neither think clearly nor act freely was sure to descend from social grace and therefore possess no control over his future. A man without authority over himself and his own destiny was not a man at all. In this manner, the poem addresses the concern that love, or the female lover, can threaten male identity and authority over her if he is not careful.
According to the poet, a has lost most of his valuable time over love, although he will not let it affect him anymore. The popular theme of the poem can be cited to be elements of cynicism, anger and regretful sentiments towards lost love.
Later in the poem, it says that love will no longer claim authority over him, again reinforcing his statement of dominance and superiority. Wyatt furthers his own agenda by portraying love as a sort of prison, with extensive use of words that portray subservience and lowliness to the reader. As a man who was held in a cell himself and who was trapped within the manipulating world of diplomacy, he considered love to be a similar entrapment; one that he had the wisdom to remove himself from. By using words with negative connotations, Wyatt leaves the reader with a distaste for love and an urge to ‘rise above’ as he does.
According to Harry Blamires " At his best Wyatt has an intensity of feelings.." of love with melancholic and negative note .Wyatt wants to express his extreme emotion of lost love, but can only do so by setting up the personification of “Love” to work as a symbol for his lost love. The poet do use subtle reference within some of his work to hint at to whom his poem is truly about, with this specific poem, “Farewell, Love” true feelings are masked behind the “Love” metaphor, and the importance of creating such a disguise is enhanced not only by the potential reactions of his unattainable lover but also by the other courtiers and even higher ranked individuals.
0 Comments