The Devonshire Manuscript/My loue ys lyke vnto theternall fyre

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The Devonshire Manuscript
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←Lo how I seke & sew to haue

Syns so ye please to here me playn→

f. [53r]

1    My loue ys lyke vnto theternall the eternal fyre
2    and I as those whyche therin do remayn
3    whose grevous paynes{es} ys but theyre gret desyre
4    to se the syght whyche they may not attayn
5    So in hells heate my self I fele to be
6    that am restraynd by gret extremyte
7    the syght of her whyche ys so dere to me
8    O puissant loue & power of gret avayle
9    by whome hell may be fellt or dethe assayle

ffinis

Commentary

Attributed to Sir Thomas Wyatt,^[1] this poem was entered by H6 and is unique to the manuscript. The speaker associates his frustrated desire to behold the object of his love with the agony of the damned in hell separated from the presence of God. Agnes K. Foxwell argues that the poem is a "madrigal" due to its rhyme scheme.^[2]

Works Cited

[1] R.A. Rebholz, ed. Sir Thomas Wyatt: The Complete Poems. London: Penguin, 1978. 228-29.

[2] Agnes K. Foxwell. The Poems of Sir Thomas Wiat. New York: Russell and Russell, 1913.

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