What is the central purpose of the poem Whoso List To Hunt?

Answer 1

Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind,

whoever wishes to hunt, i know where to find a female dear

But as for me, hélas, I may no more.

but i no longer wish to. (hélas = alas)

The vain travail hath wearied me so sore,

(vain travail = futile labour)

I am of them that farthest cometh behind.

i am the one who she will not get close to. (the one she doesn't notice)

Yet may I by no means my wearied mind

my mind tells me to forget about her

Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore

" - but as she begins to leave

Fainting I follow. I leave off therefore,

i feel i have to follow her, therefore i leave

Sithens in a net I seek to hold the wind.

(sithens = since) [metaphor] - she is a hard to catch as wind in a net

Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt,

whoever wants to hunt the dear, i will put you out of doubt

As well as I may spend his time in vain.

and he can attempt to catch her, to feel how hard it is.

And graven with diamonds in letters plain

engraved upon the precious jewels of the dears neck

There is written, her fair neck round about:

there is a message on her fair neck saying:

Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am,

[latin] - do not touch me for i am royal

And wild for to hold, though I seem tame.

and wild to hold, despite seeing tame.

SUMMARY

the poem appears to be about a man hunting a dear, who is impossible to catch. he wants to give up, but feels he can't.

however there is a deeper meaning.

the whole poem is a metaphor describing how he is in love with a woman. the diamonds graved into the so called dears neck, is in fact a diamond necklace as proof of the fact that she is far too good for the man, and the poem is in fact describing upon how he wishes to fall out of love and offer the lady to another man for him to chase instead.

Answer 2

The central purpose of the poem "Whoso List to Hunt" by Sir Thomas Wyatt is to convey the theme of unrequited love and the pursuit of something that is unattainable. The poem uses the metaphor of hunting a hind to represent the speaker's desire for the unattainable woman, who is compared to a deer that belongs to someone else (King Henry VIII's second wife Anne Boleyn). Ultimately, the poem reflects on the futility of chasing after something that is out of reach.

Answer 3

Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542) was an English poet credited with introducing the Sonnet into English literature. In 1536 he was imprisoned in the Tower for quarreling with the powerful Duke of Suffolk, but also because he was suspected of being one of Anne Boleyn's lovers. During his imprisonment Wyatt witnessed her 1536 execution.

Ostensibly about stalking a deer and hunting, his poem "Whoso List to Hunt" has been said to have been written about Anne Boleyn "a deer with a jeweled collar" as he warns:
Graven in diamonds with letters plain,
There is written her fair neck round about,
'Noli me tangere [Do not touch me], Caesar's, I am'