Sir Thomas Wyatt Poetry Essays: Whoso List to Hunt and Varium et Mutabile

Whoso list to Hunt

            In Sir Thomas Wyatt’s Poem Whoso list to Hunt, he describes the exhausting hunt for a deer and how he wishes to abandon this hunt. In literature, a deer sometimes symbolizes gentleness and grace is women, or femininity. Wyatt uses this symbolization throughout the poem. This poem symbolizes Sir Wyatt’s tiresome attempts to pursue a woman who is in the arms of another man, possibly of royalty.

            In the first line of the poem, Wyatt asks who enjoys hunting and invokes a certain deer that he has chased for some time. He has recognized that this pursuit is futile. He may chase her endlessly, but she will always be faster. “Since in a net I seek to hold the wind.”

This deer wears a tag that states, “Do not touch me” because she belongs to the king. From these lines, we can infer that the deer referred to is Anne Boleyn. Wyatt supposedly had a relationship with her before she married King Henry VIII. 

Varium et Mutabile

When first reading Sir Thomas Wyatt’s poem Varium et Mutabile, one can see how each stanza has its own contradiction. Each stanza asks how plausible different things are. However, each stanza refers to emotions, which are a part of human nature. The tone of the poem seems to be very melancholy and downhearted, but the reason is never stated. The entire meaning of the poem cannot be inferred without first reading and translating the title. This poem does not have the same impact without your knowledge of the Latin title and Sir Thomas Wyatt’s love for a woman he cannot have.

Throughout the entire poem, women are referred to only once, at the very end. However, what can be inferred from reading this poem is that it is describing human nature, not just specifically women. Once the reader understands that the title refers to a line from Virgil’s Aeneid, meaning Woman is always fickle and changing, the poem seems to make sense and flow better.

Wyatt is describing a woman that he cannot have. He is describing her faults as how she always wins arguments, changes emotions quickly, and is manipulative, among others. This understanding shows the poem in a whole new light, as it is showing the faults of a woman instead of how emotions paly into human nature.