Whoso List to Hunt

Whoso List to Hunt

In the 1500’s the poet, Thomas Wyatt introduced his sonnet “Whoso list to hunt” to London. The poem is based on a theme that was developed in one of Petrarchan sonnets which was written in Italy during the 1300’s. It can be concluded that Wyatt’s poem takes the form of what we call a Petrarchan sonnet in today’s society. A Petrarchan Sonnet consist of two stanzas an octave and a sestet. The first stanza tends to presents a theme or problem, and the second stanza develops it or resolves the problem presented by the octave. It is also common for a Petrarchan sonnet to be about a cruel affair usually in the form of a woman rejecting a man. The sonnet   “Whoso list to hunt” is a about a cruel affair, Wyatt presents this affair through a metaphor of hunting a deer.
In the octave the speaker of the sonnet presents the problem of the poem. He
States that whoever wishes to hunt, he knows where there is a deer. The deer in this case is a metaphor for a woman. The speaker then goes on to say don't count on him to ride down with you because he no longer has the desire. And then he gives the excuse that the work it takes has made him very tired, and he is now farther behind in the chase than anyone else. At the middle of this octave he reissues the problem, he claims that he still finds it difficult to take his mind off the deer and gives proof of this by adding that when she continues to run he follows. The last 2 lines of the octave expresses the speaker being conquered by not having this deer or women that he edsires he explains that, he weakens; his enthusiasm is gone and Consequently, He is quitting the chase since trying to catch the deer is as futile as trying to catch the wind in a net.
The sestet is actually split up in to a quatrain and a couplet in this sonnet. The quatrain further develops the problem of unattaining the woman.   In this stanza the speaker advises other men to quit the chase of this deer because their time will wasted he...