The Devonshire Manuscript/My ferefull hope from me ys fledd
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Introduction | Contributors | Textual Introduction |
| ←Suffryng in sorow in hope to attayn | Yowre ferefull hope cannot prevayle→ |
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f. [7v]
{9}{p`} 1 3primus My ferefull hope from me ys fledd
2 whyche of long tyme hathe ben my gyde
3 now faythefull trust ys in hys stedd
4 & bydes{es} me sett all fere asyde
5 O trewthe yt ys I not denye
6 all lovers may not lyve in ease
7 yet sum by hap dothe hyt truly
8 so lyke may I yff that she please
9 Why so yt ys a gyfft ye wott
10 by nature one to love another
11 & syns that{{th}+t+} love dothe fall by lott
12 then why not I as well as other
13 yt may so be the cawse ys why
14 she knowythe no part to my poore mynd
15 but yet as one assuRyddly
16 I speke nothyng but as I fynd
17 yff nature wyll yt shall so be
18 no reason Rulythe fantasy1
19 yet in thys case as semythe me
20 I take all thyng Indyfferently
21 yet vncertayn I wyll Reioyce
22 & thynk to have tho yet thow hast
23 I put my chawnce vnto her choyce
24 with{w+t+} pacyence for power ys past
25 No no I knowe the lyke ys fayre
26 with{w+t+}owt dysdayn or cruelltye
27 & so to end from all dyspayre
28 vntyll I fynd the contraRye
fynys quod{q+d+}n [] et2
Notes & Glosses edit
1. This writer often uses a majuscule as the first letter of a word.
2. Standard witness indexes indicate that the obscured word here is "nobody," corresponding to the attribution to "somebody" in the corresponding poem, "Yowre ferefull hope cannot prevayle" (8r).
Commentary edit
Entered by H2, this poem remains unattributed and may be an original creation. The poems appears as a question/answer sequence, marked first (primus) and second (secundus) by an unidentified hand on facing pages, and with possibly responding closers. Unlike earlier medieval question/answer courtly love poems, such as the Middle English "Demaundes off Love" (c. 1487), [1] this particular poem seems to reference a specific beloved and does not follow a designated thematic sequence of questions. The speaker in this poem has traded hope for trust, believing that Fortune will be kind to his suit because his “chance” resides in the lady’s choice. Compare this poem to the speaker’s “answer” about trust on the facing page (8r).
Works Cited edit
- ↑ W. L. Braekman, ed., The 'Demaundes off Love (Brussels: Omirel, UFSAL, 1982.) This poem, found in the royal manuscript Additional 60577, is based on the older French game "Le Roi Qui Ne Ment."