Rumination #2 – Wyatt’s Emotional Divergence from Petrarch in Two Sonnets

            Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542) is most famous for his introduction of the English sonnet form into the standard poetic repertoire of Western Europe.  Building on the standard Petrarchan model, he employed the traditional “octave” (abbaabba), but changed the ending “sestet” (six line stanza) or “volta” (meaning a “turn” of ideas or emotions) to a cddc ee (or sometimes cdcc dd) rhyme scheme that placed dramatic emphasis on the ending couplet.  This versatile poetic form can prove fascinating to the avid scholar especially when one traces it all the way up to the present day through its many incarnations.  What I find intriguing is not only Wyatt’s divergence from Petrarch’s form, but how he uses this divergence to change the emotional core of his translations.  The change usually becomes most evident at the emphasized ending couplet.

            If the English translation of I find no peace in the Norton Anthology is true to Petrarch’s original, it has a tone, certainly of inner turmoil and contradiction, but of a less self-centered kind than we find in Wyatt’s translation.  Petrarch interprets his confusion as extraordinary and wondrous, ending his poem with an awed, reverential address to his lady: “In this state am I, Lady, on account of you.”  Wyatt ends his poem with a cynical jab at the effects of love by commenting, not to his lady, but about his lady to himself or his audience: “And my delight is the causer of this strife.”  The word “strife” in this case catches the reader’s attention all the more because it is reinforced by the coupled rhyme with “life”.  The speaker of Wyatt’s poem is not only lost in the inner turmoil resulting from his love of the lady, but is somehow at war with her.  He resents the object of his desire “That looseth nor locketh holdeth me in prison, / And holdeth me not, yet can I ‘scape nowise”, but he finds no escape from her or his passion.

            In The long love that in my thought doth harbor, Wyatt’s deviation in tone is slightly more subtle.  The two major differences I see in his emotional interpretation of Petrarch’s original are his use of the word “pain” in line 10 when he speaks of his love “Leaving this enterprise with pain and cry” and the last line, “For good is the life ending faithfully”, which is once again emphasized through a coupled rhyme with “die” in the preceding line and “cry” in line 10.  The latter could be interpreted as a simple change in syntax from “For he makes a good end who dies loving well.” for aesthetic purposes, but I see more self-justification embedded in Wyatt’s ending.  The speaker in Wyatt’s poem says, “For good is the life” not just “He makes a good end”.  He wants to justify and somehow baptize his whole wretched existence that is steeped in selfish passion by dying in agony for the sake of love.  There is a cynicism and masochism in Wyatt’s poetry that does not exist in Petrarch’s vision of love as a transcendent and wondrous (though often bewildering and frustrating) state of the mind and soul.   

      

Rumination #1 - Beowulf’s Renunciation of Weapons

Beowulf chooses to put aside his weapons when battling Grendel.  I couldn’t help but be impressed and at the same time somewhat incredulous when I read this.  Of course, Beowulf is meant to be a story of mythical proportions, but is this really necessary?  At first, it almost seemed to me as if Beowulf was a bit of a showoff.  After all, there are many other mythical heroes whose fame has certainly not been diminished by their use of weapons.  King Arthur, for instance, can hardly be thought of without his trusty sword Excalibur and (in a more recent myth created by Tolkien) Gandalf is admired all the more for wielding Glamdring, another magical sword. 

I got to thinking that there must be something unique, not just about Beowulf’s abilities, but about his motivations that give him the ability to tear monsters limb from limb with his bare hands.  More importantly than how he could possibly defeat Grendel without weapons, is why Beowulf would have the initial suicidal inclination to try in the first place.  We get a clue the first time he speaks of discarding his weapons before his battle with Grendel. 

“I have heard moreover that the monster scorns

in his reckless way to use weapons;

therefore, to heighten Hygelac’s fame

and gladden his heart, I hereby renounce

sword and the shelter of the broad shield,

the heavy war-board: hand-to-hand

is how it shall be, a life-and-death

fight with the fiend. Whichever one death fells

must deem it a just judgment of God.” (lines 433-431)

Firstly, Beowulf continually seeks to add to the fame of his uncle, King Hygelac.  In Beowulf’s culture, the prowess and fame gained by one person also belongs to his family line.  Ancestry and family ties are very important in this story.  Throughout Beowulf, he is repeatedly referred to, not by his proper name, but as “Hygelac’s kinsman” and other such ancestral terms.  During his battle with Grendel’s mother the text says, “Hygelac’s kinsman kept thinking about/his name and fame: he never lost heart” (lines 1529-1530).  The syntax here allows us to make no distinction between King Hygelac and his nephew Beowulf.  The “name and fame” could rightly belong to either or both.

Secondly, Beowulf puts himself in the hands of God.  With God on his side, Beowulf realizes that it doesn’t matter whether he uses weapons or not.  Here, I can’t help but draw connections to some biblical stories from the Old Testament.  The story of David and Goliath came to my mind almost immediately when I read the lines posted above.  Sure, David could have gone out and trusted in God to help him wield a big sword, but he chose to use a sling instead to show that God was ultimately the one in control.  Beowulf declares in a most David-like manner “…And may the Divine Lord/in His wisdom grant the glory of victory/to whichever side He sees fit” (lines 685-687). 

In renouncing his weapons, Beowulf also renounces both his fear of death and his pride in his own abilities.  Fear and pride are two things that often stand in the way of truly heroic deeds.  The underlying Christian message here is that in order to attain to one’s full potential, one must hand everything over to God.  By not using weapons against Grendel, Beowulf serves as a model of this Christian virtue.

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Hello everyone!  I'm slowly getting the hang of this blogging thing.  This is my first time, but I'm always up for something new.  I look forward to working with you guys for the rest of the semester!