The Devonshire Manuscript/Grudge on who liste this ys my lott
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←Spight hathe no powre to make me sadde | ffortune dothe frown→ |
f. [78v]
1 Grudge on who liste this ys my lott
2 no thing to want if it ware not
3 my yeris be yong even as ye see
4 all thinges{es} thereto dothe well agre
5 yn faithe in face in iche degre
6 no thing dothe wante as semithe me
7 if yt ware not
8 {es}{{th}+t+} {_e} Some men dothe saye that frindes be skace
9 but I have founde as in this cace
10 afrinde wiche gyvith to no man{_a}1 place
11 {u'}{{th}+t+} but makis me happiest that euer was
12 yf &c
13 Groudge on who list this is my lot
14 no thing to wan{_a}t if yt ware not
15 a hart I have besidis all this
16 that hathe my herte & I have his
17 if he dothe well yt is my blis
18 and when we mete no lak there is /
19 yf & c
20 {_a}{{th}+t+} {_a} Yf he can finde that can me please
21 athinckes{es} he dois his owne hertes{es} ease
22 and likewise I coulde well apease
23 the chefest cause of his misease
24 yf &c
25 Groudge on &c
26 nothing to wan{_a}te &c
27 A master{t'} eke god hathe me sente
28 to hom my will is hollye ben{_e}te
29 {_e}{{th}+t+} {{s}8} to serue & love for that intente
30 both we {_e} {_o} that bothe/we2 might be well contente /
31 yf c
32 And here an ende yt dothe suffise
33 {{th}+e+}{es} to speke fewe wordes among the wise /
34 yet take this note before yor eyes
35 my mirthe shulde doble ons or twise /
36 yf yt ware not
Groudge on who liste &c /
fs
Notes & Glosses
[edit | edit source] 1. See Petti.[1] This form of macron is an ornamental variant.
2. The division line between the words may have been a retroactive addition/clarification, since there is no space between the words.
Commentary
[edit | edit source]Attributed to Sir Thomas Wyatt,[2] this poem was entered by H8. Rebholz notes that this poem could be considered a modified carol since the "burden" appears as a refrain.[3] Other versions of this poem are titled "My yeris be yong even as ye see.” Wyatt rarely employs a female speaker in his poetry; this particular female speaker expresses a similar sentiment of acceptance of fate as in the previous poem, “Spight hathe no powre to make me sadde” (77r). An interpretation of the poem as politicized verse depends on the meaning of “it” in the burden, “if it were not.” “Grudge not” was also one of Anne Boleyn’s early mottoes, which she had taken from the Burgundian court. A few other traces of Anne Boleyn's mottoes appear in the manuscript: “Ye know my herte my ladye dere” (73v) contains Boleyn’s motto, “Me and Myne,”[4] and the anagram “Am el mem” (67v) is possibly a reply by Anne Boleyn to Wyatt’s riddle “What word is that that changeth not though it be turned.”
Works Cited
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