Structure

=Structure=

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

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

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

The rhyme scheme of the poem is ABABBCC DEDEEFF GHGHHII Also, the poem is written in a loose pentameter, where the lines all have around ten syllables.

The poem was written in three stanzas. It was written this way so that Wyatt could present three ideas about the relationships with his lovers. The first stanza describes many of Wyatt's relationships that seem to be meaningless to Wyatt, because he references all of the relationships as one idea, showing how all of his previous lovers 'blur' together. The second stanza describes a special case were he has the company of a woman he truly loved, but she did not love him back. The point between the second and third stanzas is the turn in the poem. Wyatt has talked about the many lovers he did not care about and the one he did care about. In the third stanza, Wyatt talks about how he //felt// when he found someone he truly loved, and then when they did not love him back. This last stanza shows what Wyatt is thinking, almost jokingly, of the strange turn of events that accompanied that last lover, the last of his failed attempts at love in the poem.

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