one of SIR THOMAS WYATT’s most well-known, appears
in two manuscript versions and was also printed in
TOTTEL’S MISCELLANY in 1557 with the title “Description
of the contrarious passions in a lover.” The poem is a
translation of a sonnet by the Italian poet laureate
PETRARCH, upon whom Wyatt relied for the vast major-
ity of his Italian sources.
The structural principle governing this poem is a
sustained use of antitheses, a process that later became
known as Petrarchan paradox. Thus, when we read
“peace,” we can expect “war” as a counterpoint; “hope”
will echo “fear”; a “laugh” will follow “pain”; and, of
course, “love” becomes inextricable from “hate.” It may
be argued that what begins as a means of expressing
internal division is reduced to a formulaic litany of
oppositions that dissipate any sense of genuine feeling
that may or may not have been the poem’s impetus.
However, the closing line makes the cumulative effect
of these antitheses powerful.
The sonnet’s antithetical dynamics work on at least
two levels of interpretation. The fi rst signifi es the pain
over the inability to achieve resolution, whilst the sec-
ond displays an obvious pleasure in the organization of
the extremes into poetic form. These two factors taken
together produce a speaker who takes a somewhat
masochistic delight in his misery, which underlines
and circumscribes the antithetical framework of the
sonnet: Pain is pleasure, or “my delight is causer of this
strife” (l. 14), and vice versa. This reading is reinforced
by the ITALIAN (PETRARCHAN) SONNET form’s tendency to
discuss its own process. Thus, the “prison” of line 5
refers both to the psychological state of the “I” who
appears in almost every line, and also to the sonnet
itself, while the “device” that follows two lines later
points toward the rhetorical “device” of antithesis. It is
almost, then, the voice of the sonnet itself that opens
the concluding section (the SESTET): “Without eyen I
see, and without tongue I plain” (l. 9).
The sonnet is a faithful translation of Petrarch, and
part of its fi delity lies in the transportation of the origi-
nal author’s “delight” in writing it. All of “this strife,”
symbolized antithetically, is produced by a pleasure in
structuring. Wyatt’s version exemplifi es the bringing of
order to chaos through writing, and the feeling of
catharsis through telling.
FURTHER READING
Daalder, Joost, ed. Sir Thomas Wyatt: Collected Poems.
Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1975.
Kirkpatrick, Robin. English and Italian Literature from Dante
to Shakespeare: A Study of Source, Analogue and Divergence.
London and New York: Longman, 1995.
William T. Rossiter“I HAVE A GENTIL COK” ANONYMOUS
(14th century) This medieval lyric is composed in
the standard BALLAD STANZA, a QUATRAIN with the rhyme
scheme abcb. Unlike many other BALLADs, however, it
does not feature a consistent REFRAIN. The fi rst three
STANZAs begin with “I have a gentil cok,” but the last
two start with “His legges ben of asor” (l. 13) and “His
eynen arn of cristal” (l. 17), respectively. It also fea-
tures an interlocking stanza system, particularly
among the fi rst three. “I have a gentil cok,” is, of
course, repeated. As well, the third line in stanza 2—
“His comb is of red corel” (l. 7)—is repeated in stanza
three (l. 11). Additionally, there are structural repeti-
tions: “Comen he is of gret” (l. 6) pairs with “Comen
he is of kinde” (l. 10); “His tayel is of jet” (l. 8) matches
with “His tail is of inde” (l. 12). The fi nal two stanzas
also display parallel structures, but not as overtly.
Lines 13, 15, and 17 begin “His legges ben... ,” “His
spores arn... ,” and “His eynen arn... ,” The inter-
lacing serves to reinforce the double entendre on
which the lyric rests.
Essentially, this lyric is an extended bawdy pun,
with “cok” standing for “rooster” and “penis.” Every
attribute and action is applicable to both cocks. Addi-
tional wordplays further enhance the effect. For
instance, “tail” is a posterior appendage on an animal,
but it is also slang for genitals. There are also a number
of implied references to penetration. For example, the
narrator describes the cock’s spurs, which are used in
mating. The fi nal two lines signify consummation:
“And every night he percheth him / in min ladyes cha-
umber” (ll. 18–19), while also alluding to alertness—
presumably the cock is there to serve as an alarm clock,
thus returning to the image in the opening stanza (“He
doth me risen erly,” l. 3).
See also MIDDLE ENGLISH LYRICS AND BALLADS.226 “I HAVE A GENTIL COK”