The Devonshire Manuscript/What menythe thys when I lye alone
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Introduction | Contributors | Textual Introduction |
| ←At most myscheffe | Pacyence tho I have not→ |
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f. [12v]
1 What menythe thys when I lye alone
2 I tosse I turne I syghe I g [] e grone
3 My bedd me semys as hard as stone
4 What menys thys
5 I syghe I pleyne contynually
6 the clothes that{{th}+t+} on my bedd do ly
7 always methynk they lye awry
8 What menys thys
9 In slumbers oft for fere I quake
10 ffor hete & cold I burne & shake
11 ffor lake of slepe my hede dothe ake
12 What menys thys
13 A mornyngs then when I do rysse
14 I t [] rn torne vnto my wontyd gysse
15 all day after muse & devysse
16 What menys thys
17 & yff per{p+}chanse by me there passe
18 she vnto whome I Sy sue for gra{gA}ce
19 the cold blood forsakythe my face
20 What menythe thys
f. [13r]
21 But yff I sytte nere her by
22 with{w+t+} lowd voyce my hart dothe cry
23 & yet my mowthe ys dome & dry
24 What menys thys
25 to aske ffor helpe no hart I have
26 my tong dothe fayle What I shuld crave
27 yet inwardly I Rage & Rave
28 What menys thys
29 Thus have I passyd many A yere
30 & many A day tho nowght Apere
31 but most of that{{th}+t+} that most I fere
32 What menys thys
fynys quod{q+d+} Wyatt s
Commentary
editAttributed to Sir Thomas Wyatt,[1] this poem was entered by H2. The poem depicts a lover suffering from unrequited love. Rebholz notes that the first two stanzas may be a deliberate imitation of Ovid's Amores I, ii, 1-4 and the refrain may translate the first words of "Esse quid hoc dicam."[2]
Contrary to H2’s attention to visual presentation, (see "Farewell all my wellfare" (9v) and "May not thys hate from the estarte" (10v)), the two parts of the poem are on facing pages, 12v and 13r, but there are five stanzas on one page and three on the other, thereby creating an imbalance in the poem's presentation.
Works Cited
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