Wyatt, Sir Thomas ca. - Donald Friedman (essay date 1966)
Donald Friedman (essay date 1966)
SOURCE: "The 'Thing' in Wyatt's Mind," in Essays in Criticism, Vol. XVI, No. 4, October, 1976, pp. 375-81.
[In the following essay, stability of mind is described as the "thing" Wyatt seeks.]
In an article first published in Essays in Criticism1 and later incorporated in his book The Courtly Maker2 Raymond Southall speaks of 'the generally acknowledged introspection of Wyatt's poetry' as 'an attempt to come to grips with the "thing" within the mind'. He chooses to identify 'the thing' with the 'syght' that Wyatt says 'The bell towre showed' him. That is to say, he believes that Wyatt witnessed Ann Boleyn's execution in the Tower, and that the sight haunted him for the rest of his life as an image of 'the insecurity and instability of court favour'. So precise an identification does not seem to be warranted by the poem on which Mr. Southall builds his theory, 'Who lyst...
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