The Devonshire Manuscript, Dyvers dothe vse as I have hard & kno

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The Devonshire Manuscript facsimile 77v (Image: DMSEG, CC BY-SA 3.0) |

f. [77v]

1    Dyvers dothe vse as I have hard & kno
2    {es}{{th}'} {_u} {{th}+t+} {_a} whanthat to chaunge1 their lades do beginne
3    to morne & waile & neuer{u'} for to lynne2
4    hoping there{{th}'} bye to pease their{{th}'}  painefull woo.
5    {_a}{{th}+t+} {{th}'} {_i} And soimm there be that whan it chansithe soo
6    {_a}{{th}+t+} that woman change & hate where love hath bene
7    {es}{w+t+} {_e} thei call them fals & think with wordesto wynne
8    {w+c+}{_e} {es} the hartes of themwhich other where dothe gro.
9    {_a}{{th}+t+} But as for me though that by channse in dede
10    {{th}+t+}{{th}+e+} change hathe out worne the favorthat I had
11    I will not wayle / lamen{_e}t noyr yet be sad
12    {{th}+t+} nor call her fals that falsley ded me fede
13    but let it passe & thin{_i}k it is of kinde
14    {_i}{_a} {_u} {_e} that oftenn3 chaunnge doth plese a womans4 minde

fs

Notes & Glosses

1. See Petti.[1] A macron shaped with a curve and a dot beneath is an older form still in use in the 15th century.
2. The meaning of "to lynne" is "to cease."
3. The word "oftenn" is an example of a seemingly unnecessary indication of a supplied nasal.
4. See Petti.[2] A macron shaped as an ascending hook or curl is an ornamental form used in the 15th century.

Commentary

Attributed to Sir Thomas Wyatt,3] this poem was entered by [H8. In contrast to the common courtly love trope, the speaker refuses to complain about the fickleness of the lady, and justifies his refusal by remarking that womens' fickleness represents a part of "kinde" -- that is, a natural attribute of a woman's temperament. For another example describing this perspective concerning womens' fickleness, see the poem “Spight hathe no powre to make me sadde” (78r). Petrarch also touched on this theme of fickleness; in Rime 183, for instance, he writes: "Woman is by nature a changeable thing; whence I know well that a loving condition in the heart of woman lasts a very short time" (II, 12-14).[4]

This poem has the largest number of abbreviations in the entire manuscript.

Works Cited

• ↑ Anthony G. Petti. English Literary Hands from Chaucer to Dryden. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1977. 22.
• ↑ ibid., 22.
• ↑ R.A. Rebholz, ed. Sir Thomas Wyatt: The Complete Poems. London: Penguin, 1978. 224.
• ↑ ibid., 495.

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