“DE PRINCIPE BONO ET MALO” SIR
THOMAS MORE (1516) This poem, like most of SIR
THOMAS MORE’s EPIGRAMs, is composed in elegaic COU-
PLETs and is a response to the question, “What makes a
good ruler?” This short composition offers a thought-
provoking suggestion: A good ruler is like the guard
dog that protects the sheep, and a bad ruler is like the
wolf that preys on them.
Some scholars fi nd likening the king to a dog shock-
ing, but More’s language recalls that of Christ’s “I am
the Good Shepherd” speech in John 10. The good king
is obedient to the shepherd and takes nothing from the
sheep, and a bad king is ravenous and self-interested
like the wolf. Only behavior toward the fl ock distin-
guishes the two since both are canine and have similar
appearances. In this contrast lies the sting of the epi-
gram: The power of a ruler comes from God, not from
brute strength or from the people. This power is mani-
fested in obedience and selfl essness, not in the exercise
of might. Similarly, kingship is not an excuse for
excess. A good king’s rule is benefi cial to his people.
FURTHER READING
Grace, Damian. “Thomas More’s Epigrammata: Political
Theory in a Poetic Idiom.” Parergon 3 (1985): 115–129.
Miller, Clarence H., et al., eds. The Complete Works of St.
Thomas More. Vol. 3, Part II: Latin Poems. New Haven,
Conn., and London: Yale University Press, 1984.
Karen Rae Keck
“DESCRIPTIONS OF THE CONTRARI-
OUS PASSIONS IN A LOVER” See “I FIND
NO PEACE AND ALL MY HARD WORK IS DONE.”
“DIVERS DOTH USE” SIR THOMAS WYATT
(ca. 1535) “Divers doth use” is one of many poems
written by SIR THOMAS WYATT that appeared in TOTTEL’S
MISCELLANY, so the date of composition is unknown. It
follows Wyatt’s preferred rhyme scheme—abba, abba,
cddc, ee—and is Petrarchan in its setup. This SONNET,
which describes a man whose lover has jilted him,
begins with a catalogue of ways to handle grief. Some
men, he explains, “mourn and wail” when their
beloveds go through a change of heart in order to
“pease their painful woe” (l. 4). Other men, however,
choose to complain about the deceptive and fi ckle
women who have broken their hearts. At the ninth
line, the course of the poem changes through the use
of a VOLTA, and the speaker begins to contrast other
men’s coping mechanisms with his own. He plainly
states that he refuses to be sad, to “wail” or “lament,”
nor will he even say that his lady is false. He says that
instead he will let his loss of favor pass and will believe
that it is “of kind / That often change doth please a
woman’s mind” (ll. 13–14). This is similar to the regret
expressed in “THEY FLEE FROM ME.”
Readers can easily understand the content of Wyatt’s
poem. One thing to understand, however, is that while
his characterization of female nature fi ts with tradi-
tional Petrarchan poetry—a man who pursues an unre-
sponsive female—Wyatt confronts the typical reaction
of the rejected lover. In the OCTAVE, he describes the
typical Petrarchan lover pining after his beloved with
lamentations and sorrowful wails, and the scorned
lover who rails against his love; but in the SESTET, Wyatt
describes how he refuses to cry over and insult his for-
mer lady. He chooses instead to blame this fi ckleness
on female nature. Feminist critics have pointed out
that although Wyatt presents a more realistic view of
love, he continues to blame all the problems on
women.
See also ITALIAN (PETRARCHAN) SONNET.
FURTHER READING
McCanles, Michael. “Love and Power in the Poetry of Sir
Thomas Wyatt.” MLQ 29, no. 2 (1968): 145–160.
Thomson, Patricia. Sir Thomas Wyatt and His Background.
Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1964.
Kerri Lynn Allen“DOUBT OF FUTURE FOES, THE” ELIZA-
BETH I (ca. 1571) This poem was most likely writ-
ten by Queen ELIZABETH I as a response to arrival of her
cousin, MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS, in Protestant England
in 1568. The Roman Catholic Mary was very unpopu-
lar with her predominantly Protestant subjects. This
unpopularity increased when it was discovered that
she probably conspired with her lover, the earl of Both-
well, to murder her husband, Henry Darnley. Mary
fl ed to England in order to save her life, but since it146 “DE PRINCIPE BONO ET MALO”