Sir Thomas Wyatt: Whoso List to Hunt
1. Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind,
2. But as for me, hélas, I may no more.
3. The vain travail hath wearied me so sore,
4. I am of them that farthest cometh behind.
5. Yet may I by no means my wearied mind
6. Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore
7. Fainting I follow. I leave off therefore,
8. Sithens in a net I seek to hold the wind.
9. Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt,
10. As well as I may spend his time in vain.
11. And graven with diamonds in letters plain
12. There is written, her fair neck round about:
13. Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am,
14. And wild for to hold, though I seem tame.
https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/sir-thomas-wyatt/whoso-list-to-hunt-i-know-wh
ere-is-an-hind
Context
● Tudor poet
● Pre-Shakespeare
○ As a result, this sonnet is loosely Petrarchan (as was more
traditional at the time) than Shakespearean (like Sonnet 116).
● It’s theorised that Wyatt had a romantic interest with Anne Boleyn.
Some people suggest that this poem is linked to her.
● Written 1530s-1540s
, General Themes and Messages
● The futility of desire / unrequited love
○ The pain / suffering that this causes
● Uses an analogy / extended metaphor of hunting a deer to represent
pursuing a lover
○ Note: ‘list’ means want or desire
● Suggests that love is dangerous and a source of pain.
General Analysis
● Slight shift across the volta
○ Whilst both parts of the poem are filled with disappointment, the
sestet is more to do with the aftermath of the failure rather than
the action of the fruitless pursuit.
● The metaphor of a hunt
○ One interpretation:
■ A masculine metaphor, a deeply masculine portrayal of love
and pain
■ Focuses on a more brutal aspect of what is often portrayed
as a gentle emotion (love)
■ The force and potentially aggressive power of male desire
■ Is it a pursuit of love? Or for power/ownership?
○ Second interpretation
■ Women, like deer, can prove unattainable not because they
have free will (for they are not human) but because they
belong to someone else.
■ Belonging is a key theme.
■ Noli me tangere translates as ‘touch me not’, showing how
another’s claim on the deer prevents the speaker from
‘winning’ it and having success in the hunt.
■ Explores gender power dynamics
1. Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind,
2. But as for me, hélas, I may no more.
3. The vain travail hath wearied me so sore,
4. I am of them that farthest cometh behind.
5. Yet may I by no means my wearied mind
6. Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore
7. Fainting I follow. I leave off therefore,
8. Sithens in a net I seek to hold the wind.
9. Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt,
10. As well as I may spend his time in vain.
11. And graven with diamonds in letters plain
12. There is written, her fair neck round about:
13. Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am,
14. And wild for to hold, though I seem tame.
https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/sir-thomas-wyatt/whoso-list-to-hunt-i-know-wh
ere-is-an-hind
Context
● Tudor poet
● Pre-Shakespeare
○ As a result, this sonnet is loosely Petrarchan (as was more
traditional at the time) than Shakespearean (like Sonnet 116).
● It’s theorised that Wyatt had a romantic interest with Anne Boleyn.
Some people suggest that this poem is linked to her.
● Written 1530s-1540s
, General Themes and Messages
● The futility of desire / unrequited love
○ The pain / suffering that this causes
● Uses an analogy / extended metaphor of hunting a deer to represent
pursuing a lover
○ Note: ‘list’ means want or desire
● Suggests that love is dangerous and a source of pain.
General Analysis
● Slight shift across the volta
○ Whilst both parts of the poem are filled with disappointment, the
sestet is more to do with the aftermath of the failure rather than
the action of the fruitless pursuit.
● The metaphor of a hunt
○ One interpretation:
■ A masculine metaphor, a deeply masculine portrayal of love
and pain
■ Focuses on a more brutal aspect of what is often portrayed
as a gentle emotion (love)
■ The force and potentially aggressive power of male desire
■ Is it a pursuit of love? Or for power/ownership?
○ Second interpretation
■ Women, like deer, can prove unattainable not because they
have free will (for they are not human) but because they
belong to someone else.
■ Belonging is a key theme.
■ Noli me tangere translates as ‘touch me not’, showing how
another’s claim on the deer prevents the speaker from
‘winning’ it and having success in the hunt.
■ Explores gender power dynamics
