The Devonshire Manuscript, Alas poore man what hap have I

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The Devonshire Manuscript facsimile 15v (Image: DMSEG, CC BY-SA 3.0) |
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The Devonshire Manuscript facsimile 16r (Image: DMSEG, CC BY-SA 3.0) |
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f. [15v]

1    3 Alas poore man what hap have I
2    that must fforbere that{{th}+t+} I love best
3    I trow yt be my desteny
4    neuer{u'} to lyve in quiet Rest

5    No wonder ys tho I complayn
6    not with{w+t+}owt cawse ye may be sure
7    I seke ffor that I cannot attayn
8    Whyche ys my mortall dysplesure

9    Alas pore hart as in thys case
10 {es}{w+t+}   With pensyff playntes thow art opprest
11    Vnwysse thow were to desyre place
12    Where as another ys possest1

13    Do what I can to ese thy smart
14    thow wylt not let to love her styll
15    hyrs & not myn I se thow Art
16    let her do by the As she wyll

17    A carefull carkace full of payn
18    now hast thow lefft to morne for thee{{th}+e+}
19    the hart ons gone the body ys slayn
20    that euer{u'} I saw her wo ys me

f. [16r]

21    Myn Iye alas was cawse of thys
22    whyche her to se had neuer{u'} hys ffyll
23    to me that syght full bytter ys
24    in Recompence of my good wyll

25    She that I sarve all other above
26    hathe payd my hyre as ye may se
27    I was vnhappy & that I prove
28    to love Above my poore degre

Iohn crow to serve / 'v'2 hondyrd /

Notes & Glosses

1. It is unusual to have each line of the stanza capitalized.
2. The lines represented by single quotes are upper virgules.

Commentary

Attributed to Sir Thomas Wyatt,1] this poem was entered by [H2. "Alas poore man what hap have I" describes the complaint of a poor man who loves above his degree.

The first word of each line is capitalized, which is an unusual embellishment in the manuscript.

Works Cited

• ↑ R.A. Rebholz, ed., Sir Thomas Wyatt: The Complete Poems (London: Penguin, 1978), 151-52.

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