The Devonshire Manuscript/Deme as ye list vppon goode cause
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1 Deme as ye list vppon goode cause
2 I maye and think of this or that
3 but what or whye my self best knowes
4 wherebye I think and fere not
5 but thereunto I maye well think
6 the doubtefull sentence of this clause
7 I wolde yt ware not as I think
8 I wolde I thought yt ware not
9 ffor if I thought yt ware not soo.
10 though yt ware so yt grevid me not
11 vnto my thought yt ware as tho
12 I harkenid tho I here not
13 at that I see . I cannot wynk
14 nor from{_o} mye thought so let it goo.
15 I wolde yt ware not as I think
16 I wolde I thought yt ware not
17 Lo how my thought might make me free
18 of that perchaunce yt nedith1 nott
19 perchaunce no doubte the drede I see
20 I shrink at that I bere not
21 but in my harte this worde shall sink
22 vnto the proffe maye better bee
23 I wolde yt ware not & amp; as I think
24 I wolde I thought yt ware not
25 Yf yt be not shewe no cause whye
26 I shulde so think / than care I not
27 for I shall soo myself applie /
28 to bee that I apere not
29 that is as one that{{th}+t+} shall not shrink
30 to be yor owne vntill I dye /
31 and if yt be not as I think
32 lyke wyse to think yt is not
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Notes & Glosses
edit 1. In "nedith," h overwrites t.
Commentary
editAttributed to Sir Thomas Wyatt,[1] this poem was entered by H8. Rebholz notes, however, that the poem contains no external evidence for this attribution.[2] The speaker engages in a psychological reflection on the nature of perception and reality. “I am as I am and so wil I be” (85r), located on the next page, expresses a similar theme.
Works Cited
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