Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard (referred to in the reading and in the blog as Surrey) were two very similar writers. They were close friends and lived working under the infamous Henry VIII. Both were imprisoned multiple times by Henry and in some cases got each other out. When looking at their writing, there is a similar style, maybe because they wrote in the same climate and in the same time period. But if your focus is put on one specific poem by each, you can see that there must be something more going on than just writing in the same time and place.
When looking at Wyatt’s poem “The long love that in my thought doth harbor,” and comparing it to Surrey’s “Love, that doth reign and live within my thought,” you notice right away the similarities in the titles. If the poems are taken line by line, only a few differences remain to be seen. Beginning with Wyatt’s and Surrey’s first four lines, line one begins by speaking of the love that lies within each narrators thoughts. In line two both narrators are speaking of the simple thought of love, which is personified into “he,” and moving from a thought to a feeling in the narrators heart. Where, in the third and fourth line in both poems, “he” is clad in armor and is holding a banner. At this point the love as been symbolized to knight or warrior, and the “banner” is representing of the now thoughts of constant love the narrator’s heart is showing him.
Moving on to lines five to eight in both poems, Wyatt and Surrey both speak of how “she” teaches the narrator how to both love and suffer. “She that learneth me to love and suffer” (Wyatt, 5). Compared to Surreys, “But she that taught me love and suffer pain” (5). Line six in both speaks of the narrator’s carless and doubtful love and lust, moving onto line seven, speaking of modest looks towards “her.” Here, there is the slightest difference in lines, as Surrey’s poem takes a turn for the brighter in line eight: “Her smiling grace convereteth straight to ire.” While in Wyatt’s poem his line eight speaks “his hardiness taketh displeasure.” These difference in lines shows that these two narrators and beginning to have different views on the situation, Wyatt’s poem taking a darker side.
The poems sync up again beginning in line nine, where the narrators are speaking of fleeing cowardly to the heart, followed by line ten which continues the running and hiding, but a slight variance changes the mood yet again. Wyatt’s poem speaks of “pain and cry,” when fleeing to hide, while Surrey’s narrator merely “plain(s)” or complains. Yet both narrators end up losing their way by line eleven. In the last few lines, the narrators of both poems speak of leaving their “lord” and “master.” Wyatt uses master while Surrey uses the word lord, both speaking in lines twelve to fourteen of leaving this person. Surrey’s use of lord may be a religious reference, being backed by the fact that his poem is the lighter of the two, and Wyatt’s poem seems to be coming from a darker side.
I really liked your line-by-line comparison of the poems. As I was reading, I definitely noticed some of these similarities. I noticed the opening lines were setting up the poems to be about something that each of the authors has on their minds. The way you lined up the poems really made it clear of the huge similarities between the two poems. However, in your opening paragraph you state that, “you can see that there must be something more going on than just writing in the same time and place.” You go on to compare the poems very in depth but I never understood what you meant by that something more is going on. What is that something more that is going on?
ReplyDeleteMaybe Becca is saying that Wyatt and Howard gathered their words for these poems from previous experiences that they have encountered or from perhaps a memory of a love they could not have?
ReplyDeleteThat's actually fascinating, thanks for that--I somehow didn't pick up on the parallels. I always love stories about famous writers who happened to be friends with each other, and how their friendships influenced their respective works (I think I worded that confusingly, but you get the idea). Funny to think that that's a tradition that's carried on for at least six centuries, writers gravitating towards writers, misery gravitating towards misery.
ReplyDeleteThis week I wrote my rumination on Wyatt's work because I felt that it spoke to me the most; however, after reading your post, I see that I missed the parallels between Wyatt and Surrey's work. The two poems are extremely close in nature and your line by line comparison made it very easy for me to understand.
ReplyDeleteWhen reading the introductions of both poets, it fascinated me that they lived in the same time period and had the same type of context for their poems. How much was their friendship with one another influential in their writing? When taking a class with friends, I always compare our thoughts on ideas or essay topics, etc. I wonder if these two poets had the same idea - exchanging experiences they had, understanding eachother's emotions, and then writing about it.
I think it's great that this week we read both of these poets and the same time. If the readings were separated, I do not think that these close parallels could have been made and we could have possibly lost much of the meaning behind both sonnet's purposes.
I really enjoyed your comparison between the two authors works. I found it quite interesting that the two were friends and shared many life experiences together, which they both chose two write about but did so from their own views on the matter. I think its a great idea to look at the two poems side by side and see how they differ and are similar. You did a great job on that.
ReplyDeleteIt has been said before, but I also found your line by line comparison very interesting. I had noticed some of the parallels between the two, but did not pick up on how much was actually similar. After reading your rumination I was left asking the same question as Kate. I was looking forward to reading what more could have been going on, and was left wondering.
ReplyDeleteTouche, good sir. Even through reading both of the poems, I did not notice any similarities between the poems until just now when I read your rumination. The idea that both Wyatt and Surrey were friends and shared ideas that blossomed into the poetry we have just read is mind boggling. However, after doing some research, I discovered that Wyatt was 14 years Howard's senior. I wonder if, instead of them collectively pooling their lyrical prowess, Wyatt influenced Howard due to the amount of age he had over Howard. Just a hunch.
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