The Devonshire Manuscript, lament my losse my labor and my payne

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The Devonshire Manuscript facsimile 76v (Image: DMSEG, CC BY-SA 3.0) |

f. [76v]

1    lament my losse my labor and my payne
2    all ye that here mye wofull playnte and crye
3    yf ever man might ons yor herte constrayne
4    to pytie wordes{es} of right yt shulde bee I
5    that sins . the tyme that youthe yn me ded rayne
6    my plesaunte yeris to bondage ded aplye
7    wiche as yt was I porpose to declare
8    wherebye my frindes{es} hereafter maye be ware

9    And if per{p+}chaunce some radrs list to muse
10    what menith me so playnlye for to wright
11    my good entente the fawte of yt shall skuse
12    wiche meane nothing but trulye tendyght to endite
13    the crafte and care the greef and long abuse
14    of lovors lawe and eke her puisssauntemight
15    wiche though that men oft tymes bye paynis doth kno.
16    lyttle thye wot wiche wayes the gylis doth growe

17    yet well ye kno yt will renwe my smar{m'}te
18    thus to reherse the paynes that I have past
19    my hand dothe shake my pen skant dothe his parte
20    my boddye quakes{es} my wyttis begynne to waste
21    twixt heate and colde in fere I fele my herte
22    {_i}{_a} pay panting for paine and thus as all agaste
23    I do remayne wo skant wotting what I wryd
24    perdon me then Rudelye tho I indyte

25    And patientelye o Rerdre I the praye
26    take in good parte this worke as yt ys men{_e}te
27    {{th}+t+}{w+t+} and greve the not with aught that I shall saye
28    sins with{w+t+} good will this boke a brode ys sente
29    to tell men I howe in youthe I ded assaye
30    what love ded mene and nowe I yt repente
31    that moving me my frindes{es} might well be ware
32    {_o}{_e} and kepe them fre from all suche payne and care /

fs

Commentary

Attributed to Sir Thomas Wyatt,1] this poem was entered by [H8. Here the speaker warns a friend of the grief and abuse caused by the “law” of lovers. While some scholars have argued that Wyatt based his poem on Petrarch's Rime I, Rebholz notes that the poem does not have enough similarities to constitute a direct translation or imitation; the poem, Rebholz argues, might have instead belonged to a group of poems Wyatt intended to send abroad, and this poem would "have been both a preface and an envoy in the medieval tradition of farewells to books."[2]

Works Cited

• ↑ R.A. Rebholz, ed. Sir Thomas Wyatt: The Complete Poems. London: Penguin, 1978. 235-36.
• ↑ ibid., 502-03

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