“I Find no Peace” - Sir Thomas Wyatt.

Hello friends,

Today I would like to share a poem which I studied during my graduation. The poem is “I Find no Peace” by Sir Thomas Wyatt.

Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503 – 11 October 1542)[1] was a 16th-century English ambassador and lyrical poet. He is credited with introducing the sonnet into English literature.

I find no peace, and all my war is done.

I fear and hope. I burn and freeze like ice.

I fly above the wind, yet can I not arise;

And nought I have, and all the world I season.

That loseth nor locketh holdeth me in prison

And holdeth me not—yet can I scape no wise—

Nor letteth me live nor die at my device,

And yet of death it giveth me occasion.

Without eyen I see, and without tongue I plain.

I desire to perish, and yet I ask health.

I love another, and thus I hate myself.

I feed me in sorrow and laugh in all my pain;

Likewise displeaseth me both life and death,

And my delight is causer of this strife.

In this poem the narrator appears to be having a struggle. This struggle is not with any person, but within himself. he has a conflict with himself because of the love for someone else. The narrator isn’t happy with himself. he dislikes himself, but yet he loves someone else.

He neither wants to live nor die but he wants to be with the person he loves. He wants to die because he isn’t with her. The lover is not in love with him.

“Love does not destroy me, and does not loose me, wishes me not to live, but does not remove my bar”.

He explains the struggle he is going through within. The struggles with the outer world are over but the war with himself is never ending. This emotion holds him imprisoned, but he is still free.

There is nothing that should be troubling him, but all he feels is troubled. His freedom is what is holding him confined.

The poem is full of paradox. The poet is in constant dilemma like Hamlet.

“To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer. The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune, Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles, And by opposing end them: to die, to sleep.”

Reference:-

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/45579

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Wyatt_(poet)

https://www.enotes.com/shakespeare-quotes/not-that-question

Comments

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