accepted interpretation is a generally biographical
reading wherein the hunter is Wyatt himself and the
hind is Anne Boleyn, rumored mistress of Wyatt but
defi nitely the mistress (and later queen) of HENRY VIII.
Critics have examined Wyatt’s changes to the original
and his vocabulary choices. In particular, the focus has
been on the motivation of the speaker. Wyatt’s speaker,
unlike Petrarch’s, is weary of the chase: “... hélas, I may
no more. / The vain travail hath wearied me so sore” (ll.
2–3). His “wearied mind” (l. 5) is expressed throughout
the remainder of the OCTAVE, culminating with “Fainting
I follow. I leave off therefore” (l. 7). The sense of exhaus-
tion, weariness, and sadness is emphasized through the
early repetition of an initial h, an aspiration, and akin to
a sigh: “hunt” and “hind” (l. 1), “hélas” (l. 2), “hath” (l.
3). In particular, “hélas,” an archaic form of “alas,” not
only echoes a lover’s sigh but also tones down passion—
“alas” is a common interjection, often followed by an
exclamation point to emphasize alarm or extreme sor-
row, but hélas is understated and tired.
Some critics have also noted that this sonnet works
backwards, with the octave describing the effect (weary
resignation) and the SESTET depicting the catalyst (seeing
the hind). The hind herself differs from Petrarch’s in a
number of ways. His deer is a pure white doe with gold
antlers, wearing a necklace of topaz and diamonds. The
doe’s purity, rarity, and worth are emphasized, as is her
independence: Petrarch’s deer wanders free because her
Caesar has made her so. Wyatt’s deer seems common;
he suggests that any hunter might pursue her, and
though she is “fair” (l. 12), she is neither pure nor rare.
However, she is branded with ownership: Her collar
fi rmly establishes that she cannot be touched. The pro-
vocative ending has caused some debate. The hind
insists that she is “And wild for to hold, though I seem
tame” (l. 14), leaving the impression that she merely
appears to be trapped but is really free. This position
imparts a measure of subjectivity to the otherwise con-
strained deer; indeed, through Petrarch’s doe appears to
wander farther and freer, she is free by her master’s
orders, while Wyatt’s hind, though she appears to be
completely possessed, is deceptively submissive while
truly uncontrolled. Wyatt alludes to this earlier, in his
metaphorical comparison of the hind to “the wind” (l. 8)
and in the overall impossibility of the chase.
Finally, Wyatt’s use of the phrase noli me tangere
contains a BIBLICAL ALLUSION to John 20:17: Immedi-
ately post-Resurrection, Jesus appeared to Mary Mag-
dalene, but when she tried to embrace him, he told her
not to touch him. More literally, however, the phrase
means “cease desiring to touch me”—a subtle differ-
ence, but one that imparts power to the hind: She is
essentially ordering the speaker not to want to touch
her, therefore controlling his feelings as well as his
actions. However, she is only partially successful.
Though Wyatt ends the chase, he cannot, by any
means, draw his mind from the deer (ll. 5–6). He con-
tinues to want her, though he terminates the pursuit.
See also “THEY FLEE FROM ME.”
FURTHER READING
Boyarin, Adrienne Williams. “Competing Biblical and Virgil-
ian Allusions in Wyatt’s ‘Who so List to Hounte.’ ” N&Q
53, no. 4 (2006): 417–421.
Powell, Jason. “ ‘For Caesar’s I Am’: Henrician Diplomacy
and Representations of King and Country in Thomas
Wyatt’s Poetry.” Sixteenth Century Journal 36, no. 2
(2005): 415–431.“WIDSITH” ANONYMOUS (before 1072) “Wid-
sith,” a 143-line poem found in the EXETER BOOK, is
one of only two Old English (Anglo-Saxon) poems to
focus on the life of the Anglo-Saxon poet-musician
commonly called a SCOP (the other work is “DEOR”). As
with most poems of this period, the authorship and
date of composition of “Widsith” are unknown. Struc-
turally, the poem is similar to “The WANDERER,” with a
brief prologue and epilogue by a third-person narrator
framing the main portion, which is told from the per-
spective of the title character himself.
After being introduced by the narrator as a man who
has visited many lands and received treasure from var-
ious leaders, Widsith (“Far-Traveler”) recites three
lengthy catalogs of the tribes, rulers, and nations he
has seen. The names are mainly drawn from the Ger-
manic heroic period of the fourth through the sixth
centuries. The chronological and geographical range of
these wanderings, however, makes it apparent that
Widsith is no ordinary minstrel. He claims to have
been with rulers including the third-century Eastgota
(l. 113) and sixth-century Ælfwine (l. 70), and to have466 “WIDSITH”