Metaphor. A metaphor is a figure of speech in which one thing is spoken or written about as though it were another. In this sonnet, the writer uses a metaphor to describe the object of the speaker’s affections.
Petrarchan Sonnet and Iambic Pentameter. A Petrarchan sonnet is a lyric poem of fourteen lines, often in iambic pentameter. Iambic pentameter is a kind of meter, or rhythmic pattern, of five iambs, each iamb being one weakly stressed syllable followed by one strongly stressed syllable. The Petrarchan sonnet generally follows the rhyme scheme abbaabba cdecde (or cdcdcd or cdedce) and is divided into two parts: the first eight lines forming the octave and the last six forming the sestet. The theme of a sorrowful male and an unattainable female is typical in this type of sonnet. Iambic pentameter is a kind of meter or rhythmic pattern, of five iambs, each iamb being one weakly stressed syllable followed by one strongly stressed syllable.
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Wyatt’s “Whoso List to Hunt” is a superb example of a Petrarchan sonnet, both technically and thematically. The sonnet may have been written about Anne Boleyn. Wyatt grew up in the same household with Anne and fell deeply in love with her. He was devastated when Anne became the wife of Henry VIII, and Henry grew, quite naturally, suspicious of him. The reference in the poem to Cæsar may be read as meaning “any powerful man,” such as King Henry.
Write each line of the poem and make a line over each stressed syllable.
Write about a time when you couldn’t get what you wanted.
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