Analysis of They Flee from Me

Thomas Wyatt 1503 (Kent) – 1542 (London)



They flee from me, that sometime did me seek,
With naked foot stalking in my chamber.
I have seen them, gentle, tame, and meek,
That now are wild, and do not remember
That sometime they put themselves in danger
To take bread at my hand; and now they range,
Busily seeking with a continual change.

Thanked be Fortune it hath been otherwise,
Twenty times better; but once in special,
In thin array, after a pleasant guise,
When her loose gown from her shoulders did fall,
And she me caught in her arms long and small,
And therewith all sweetly did me kiss
And softly said, "Dear heart, how like you this?"

It was no dream, I lay broad waking.
But all is turned, thorough my gentleness,
Into a strange fashion of forsaking;
And I have leave to go, of her goodness,
And she also to use newfangleness.
But since that I so kindely am served,
I fain sould know what she hath deserved.


Scheme ABABBCC DXDEEFF GHGHDII
Poetic Form
Metre 111111111 1101100110 111110101 1111011010 111101010 1111110111 100101001001 111011110 1011011010 0101100101 1011101011 0111001101 01110111 0101111111 111111110 1111101100 0101101010 0111111010 0110111 11111111 111111101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 867
Words 165
Sentences 6
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 7, 7, 7
Lines Amount 21
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 230
Words per stanza (avg) 54
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Submitted by halel on July 15, 2020

Modified on March 05, 2023

49 sec read
3

Thomas Wyatt

Thomas Wyatt(1503-42),the prolific English poet used over 70 different stanza forms but is especially known for the poulter's measure form(an alexandrine ,12 syllables,alternating with a fourteener 14 syllables,often used for serious statements or for burlesque more…

All Thomas Wyatt poems | Thomas Wyatt Books

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