Thomas Wyatt

My Lute Awake!

THE LOVER COMPLAINETH THE UNKINDNESS OF HIS LOVE.

Musical Metaphor

The lute becomes a stand-in for the poet's emotional state. Each repetition of 'my lute' is really about the poet's own exhaustion.

My lute awake, perform the last
Labour, that thou and I shall waste,
And end that I have now begun :
And when this song is sung and past,
My lute ! be still, for I have done.
As to be heard where ear is none ;
As lead to grave in marble stone ;
My song may pierce her heart as soon.
Should we then sigh, or sing, or moan ?
No, no, my lute ! for I have done.
The rocks do not so cruelly

Courtly Love Rejection

Classic Renaissance trope of unrequited love. The poet uses geological imagery to describe emotional impossibility.

Repulse the waves continually,
As she my suit and affection :
So that I am past remedy ;
Whereby my lute and I have done.

Love as Battlefield

Love described through military metaphors: 'shot', 'bow', 'spoil'. Reflects the combative nature of courtly romantic pursuit.

Proud of the spoil that thou hast got
Of simple hearts thorough Love's shot,
By whom, unkind, thou hast them won :
Think not he hath his bow forgot,
Although my lute and I have done.
Vengeance shall fall on thy disdain,
That makest but game on earnest pain ;
Think not alone under the sun
Unquit to cause thy lovers plain ;
Although my lute and I have done.
May chance thee lie withered and old

Revenge Fantasy

Wyatt threatens future loneliness as punishment for the lover's current cruelty. A common Renaissance poetic strategy of emotional reversal.

The winter nights, that are so cold,
Plaining in vain unto the moon ;
Thy wishes then dare not be told :
Care then who list, for I have done.
And then may chance thee to repent
The time that thou hast lost and spent,
To cause thy lovers sigh and swoon :
Then shalt thou know beauty but lent,
And wish and want as I have done.
Now cease, my lute ! this is the last
Labour, that thou and I shall waste ;
And ended is that we begun :
Now is this song both sung and past ;
My lute ! be still, for I have done.
Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation

Reading Notes

Renaissance Poetic Technique

Wyatt pioneered the sonnet in English, introducing complex emotional landscapes through tight formal structures. This poem uses repetition as a musical and emotional technique, with the refrain 'my lute' and 'I have done' creating a sense of exhaustion and finality.

The poem operates as a dramatic monologue, where the speaker uses his lute as a proxy for emotional expression. Each stanza builds a case against an unresponsive lover, using increasingly bitter and sophisticated rhetorical strategies.

Courtly Love Subversion

[CONTEXT: Wyatt wrote during Henry VIII's court, where romantic poetry was a dangerous political performance.] This poem subverts traditional courtly love poetry by emphasizing the poet's emotional rejection rather than idealization.

Instead of praising the beloved, Wyatt predicts her future loneliness and regret. The poem becomes less about romantic pursuit and more about emotional revenge, a radical departure from contemporary love poetry.