1
‘They Flee from Me’ It implies that she so badly wanted
to be with him that she was
Thomas Wyatt
prepared to take risks.
1. They flee from me, that sometime did me seek,
2. With naked foot, stalking in my chamber.
3. I have seen them, gentle, tame, and meek,
4. That now are wild, and do not remember Line 21:
5. That sometime they put themself in danger
6. To take bread at my hand; and now they range, The diction in this line highlights
7. Busily seeking with a continual change. the speaker’s viewpoint in the
poem:
8. Thanked be Fortune it hath been otherwise, It is significant that the poet is
9. Twenty times better; but once in special,
concerned here about what the
10. In thin array, after a pleasant guise,
11. When her loose gown from her shoulders did fall, women ‘deserve’. This highlights
12. And she me caught in her arms long and small, the unfairness of his treatment at
13. And therewith all sweetly did me kiss
He is happy that he experienced the hands of these women
14. And softly said, ‘Dear heart, how like you this?’
what he did, and grateful. The tone which galls him. He has been
expresses this, in contrast to the final
15. It was no dream, I lay broad waking. nothing but kind and
stanza, where he is bitter and
16. But all is turned, thorough my gentleness, gentlemanly in his relationships
resentful.
17. Into a strange fashion of forsaking;
The contrast between what he is with them but in turn he has
18. And I have leave to go, of her goodness,
feeling now with what he felt then is 19. And she also to use newfangleness. been abandoned. They seem to
so great that the past might seem 20. But since that I so kindly am served, get away with it and feel
like a dream, too good to be true. 21. I fain would know what she hath deserved.
He is convincing himself and his nothing while he is left with a
listener/reader that these things sense of loss and betrayal. SACAI
really did happen.
JUNE 2022
@Juffrou_Ansie
, 2
Stanza 1
‘They Flee from Me’
Imagery establish a contrast: Thomas Wyatt
By comparing women to wild animals like deer the poet
shows how differently he is treated by them now 1. They flee from me, that sometime did me seek,
compared to the past. They used to come to him 2. With naked foot, stalking in my chamber.
trustingly but now they run away. SACAI JUNE 2022 3. I have seen them, gentle, tame, and meek,
4. That now are wild, and do not remember
5. That sometime they put themself in danger
Stanza 2 6. To take bread at my hand; and now they range,
MOOD: It is nostalgic as the poet recounts a particularly 7. Busily seeking with a continual change.
pleasant memory. It is romantic as he describes the
expressions of affection between the two lovers. SACAI JUNE
2022 8. Thanked be Fortune it hath been otherwise,
9. Twenty times better; but once in special,
10. In thin array, after a pleasant guise,
11. When her loose gown from her shoulders did fall,
Stanza 3 12. And she me caught in her arms long and small,
IRONY: The poet refers to the so-called ‘kindness’ and 13. And therewith all sweetly did me kiss
‘goodness’ of the women who have forsaken him. He 14. And softly said, ‘Dear heart, how like you this?’
recognises their behaviour as deeply hypocritical and
shallow. He bitterly resents the way that the women have 15. It was no dream, I lay broad waking.
abandoned him, seemingly for no reason except that he is 16. But all is turned, thorough my gentleness,
not in ‘fashion’ SACAI JUNE 2022 17. Into a strange fashion of forsaking;
18. And I have leave to go, of her goodness,
19. And she also to use newfangleness.
20. But since that I so kindly am served,
21. I fain would know what she hath deserved.
@Juffrou_Ansie
‘They Flee from Me’ It implies that she so badly wanted
to be with him that she was
Thomas Wyatt
prepared to take risks.
1. They flee from me, that sometime did me seek,
2. With naked foot, stalking in my chamber.
3. I have seen them, gentle, tame, and meek,
4. That now are wild, and do not remember Line 21:
5. That sometime they put themself in danger
6. To take bread at my hand; and now they range, The diction in this line highlights
7. Busily seeking with a continual change. the speaker’s viewpoint in the
poem:
8. Thanked be Fortune it hath been otherwise, It is significant that the poet is
9. Twenty times better; but once in special,
concerned here about what the
10. In thin array, after a pleasant guise,
11. When her loose gown from her shoulders did fall, women ‘deserve’. This highlights
12. And she me caught in her arms long and small, the unfairness of his treatment at
13. And therewith all sweetly did me kiss
He is happy that he experienced the hands of these women
14. And softly said, ‘Dear heart, how like you this?’
what he did, and grateful. The tone which galls him. He has been
expresses this, in contrast to the final
15. It was no dream, I lay broad waking. nothing but kind and
stanza, where he is bitter and
16. But all is turned, thorough my gentleness, gentlemanly in his relationships
resentful.
17. Into a strange fashion of forsaking;
The contrast between what he is with them but in turn he has
18. And I have leave to go, of her goodness,
feeling now with what he felt then is 19. And she also to use newfangleness. been abandoned. They seem to
so great that the past might seem 20. But since that I so kindly am served, get away with it and feel
like a dream, too good to be true. 21. I fain would know what she hath deserved.
He is convincing himself and his nothing while he is left with a
listener/reader that these things sense of loss and betrayal. SACAI
really did happen.
JUNE 2022
@Juffrou_Ansie
, 2
Stanza 1
‘They Flee from Me’
Imagery establish a contrast: Thomas Wyatt
By comparing women to wild animals like deer the poet
shows how differently he is treated by them now 1. They flee from me, that sometime did me seek,
compared to the past. They used to come to him 2. With naked foot, stalking in my chamber.
trustingly but now they run away. SACAI JUNE 2022 3. I have seen them, gentle, tame, and meek,
4. That now are wild, and do not remember
5. That sometime they put themself in danger
Stanza 2 6. To take bread at my hand; and now they range,
MOOD: It is nostalgic as the poet recounts a particularly 7. Busily seeking with a continual change.
pleasant memory. It is romantic as he describes the
expressions of affection between the two lovers. SACAI JUNE
2022 8. Thanked be Fortune it hath been otherwise,
9. Twenty times better; but once in special,
10. In thin array, after a pleasant guise,
11. When her loose gown from her shoulders did fall,
Stanza 3 12. And she me caught in her arms long and small,
IRONY: The poet refers to the so-called ‘kindness’ and 13. And therewith all sweetly did me kiss
‘goodness’ of the women who have forsaken him. He 14. And softly said, ‘Dear heart, how like you this?’
recognises their behaviour as deeply hypocritical and
shallow. He bitterly resents the way that the women have 15. It was no dream, I lay broad waking.
abandoned him, seemingly for no reason except that he is 16. But all is turned, thorough my gentleness,
not in ‘fashion’ SACAI JUNE 2022 17. Into a strange fashion of forsaking;
18. And I have leave to go, of her goodness,
19. And she also to use newfangleness.
20. But since that I so kindly am served,
21. I fain would know what she hath deserved.
@Juffrou_Ansie
