The Devonshire Manuscript/thou haste no faith of him that eke hath none
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| ←Beholde love thye powre how she despisith | Theye fle from me that some tyme ded me seke→ |
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f. [69v]
1 thou haste no faith of him that eke hath none
2 {es}{{th}+u+} but thou must love him nedes bye good reason
3 for as the pro{p2}verbe saith right notable
4 everye thinksekith his semblable /
5 {_on}{_o} {{th}+u+} and thou hast thyne of thy owne condicion
6 yet ys yt not the thing I passe vppon
7 nother hot nor colde is my affection
8 for sins thi hert is this so mutable /
9 thou haste no faith /
10 I demid the trwe with{w+t+}out exception
11 but I perceyve I lacked dastrestion discretion
12 to fasten faith to wordes{es} so dobtable
13 thye thought is to light and variable /
14 to chaunge so oft without occasion occacoion{_i}{w+t+}
15 thou hast no faith
Commentary
editAttributed to Sir Thomas Wyatt,[1] this poem was entered by H8. The speaker complains of his love's fickleness, which was a common theme in medieval and early Tudor courtly love poetry. Wyatt adopts the French rondeau structure for his poem, a form which consists of thirteen lines, two stanzas of four lines, five lines in the last stanza, and a refrain that appears after each stanza. In this particular rondeau, Wyatt omits the refrain after the first stanza.
The two refrains following are aligned to the right.
Works Cited
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Textual Notes
editTexts Collated
editCollation
edit1 thou] Thou LEge41 haste] hast LEge41 eke] LEge41
2 bye good] by LEge41
3 the proverbe saith right] saieth a proverbe LEge41
4 everye thinkg] eche thing LEge41 sekith] seketh LEge41 semblable /] semblable LEge41
5 thyne] thyn LEge41 owne condicion] conditions LEge41
6 ys yt] is it LEge41 vppon] on LEge41
7 nother] nor LEge41 hot] hote LEge41 colde] cold LEge41 is my] ofis myn LEge41
8 sins] syns LEge41 thi] thyn LEge41 this] LEge41 mutable /] mutable LEge41
9 haste] hast LEge41 faith /] faith LEge41
10 demid] thought LEge41 trwe] true / LEge41 without] withoute LEge41
11 perceyve] perceve LEge41 dastrestiondiscretion] discretion LEge41
12 fasten] fasshion LEge41 so doblable] mutable LEge41
13 thye] thy LEge41 and variable /] & variable LEge41
14 without] withoute LEge41 occacion] occasion LEge41
15 thou] Thou LEge41