The Devonshire Manuscript, Deme as ye list vppon goode cause

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The Devonshire Manuscript facsimile 84v (Image: DMSEG, CC BY-SA 3.0) |

f. [84v]

1    Deme as ye list vppon goode cause
2    I maye and think of this or that
3    but what or whye my self best knowes
4    wherebye I think and fere not
5    but thereunto I maye well think
6    the doubtefull sentence of this clause
7    I wolde yt ware not as I think
8    I wolde I thought yt ware not

9    ffor if I thought yt ware not soo.
10    though yt ware so yt grevid me not
11    vnto my thought yt ware as tho
12    I harkenid tho I here not
13    at that I see . I cannot wynk
14    nor from{_o} mye thought so let it goo.
15    I wolde yt ware not as I think
16    I wolde I thought yt ware not

17    Lo how my thought might make me free
18    of that perchaunce yt nedith1 nott
19    perchaunce no doubte the drede I see
20    I shrink at that I bere not
21    but in my harte this worde shall sink
22    vnto the proffe maye better bee
23    I wolde yt ware not & amp; as I think
24    I wolde I thought yt ware not

25    Yf yt be not shewe no cause whye
26    I shulde so think / than care I not
27    for I shall soo myself applie /
28    to bee that I apere not
29    that is as one that{{th}+t+} shall not shrink
30    to be yor owne vntill I dye /
31    and if yt be not as I think
32    lyke wyse to think yt is not

fs

Notes & Glosses

1. In "nedith," h overwrites t.

Commentary

Attributed to Sir Thomas Wyatt,1] this poem was entered by [H8. Rebholz notes, however, that the poem contains no external evidence for this attribution.2] The speaker engages in a psychological reflection on the nature of perception and reality. [“I am as I am and so wil I be” (85r), located on the next page, expresses a similar theme.

Works Cited

• ↑ R.A. Rebholz, ed. Sir Thomas Wyatt: The Complete Poems. London: Penguin, 1978. 247-48.
• ↑ ibid., 509.

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