"I Find No Peace" by Thomas Wyatt

The poem of Wyatt was patterned after the Petrarchan sonnet, which has 14 lines. The rhyme scheme of the poem is divided in two groups, the first 8 lines are called the octave; and the second group is called the sestet or composed of 6 lines (Abrahams and Harpham 53). The poet used Petrarchan conceit in the opening lines of the poem. This is the type of figure of speech that was used in love poems that had been novel and effective in the Italian poetry of Petrarch. Wyatt begins the poem with “I find no peace, and all my war is done. I fear and hope. I burn and freeze like ice” (Abrahams and Harpham 53). These first two lines refer to a figure of speech known as oxymoron, because they describe the opposing passions that are being experienced by a courtly sufferer from the disease of love. This is a description how the contrarious passion in the lover starts and ends in “I love another, and thus hate myself” (Wyatt 9). The poet used a series of oxymoron: love and hate; sorrow and pain; death and life; delight and strife. This poem has presented a man’s despair brought about by the unrequited love he felt for the woman he desires. The poet feels contradicting emotions for the woman whom he loves so much. He feels soaring high with the passionate love he feels for the woman yet he cannot arise. He considered himself imprisoned and locked up inside because of his great love that he cannot escape from it. There are occasions when the man wanted to die to end his suffering, yet there are times he wanted to be well and strong.
Wyatt was able to explain what hot and cold passion is or that kind of love that necessitates hatred of his own corporal being. Yet at the same time, there is self-affliction which can give him bliss (Bollas 28). In this poem, the poet was able to capture Petrarch’s focus on the lover’s split psyche and torment to describe his own position as an outspoken servant (Hattaway 381).
In the first line, the poet found himself wanting for peace of mind because he is extremely confused because despite the end of his doubts and fears, he still cannot find the opportunity to immerse himself in tranquility. The oxymoron is a form of figure of speech where in two contradictory terms are put together. The first oxymoron in the poem is peace and war. In the second line, the poet used fear and hope; burn and freeze. The poet felt troubled because he kept on thinking of his loved one, that he cannot find tranquility to calm all his doubts. He embodies a true Petrarchan lover, who is overwhelmed by his great love for a woman, yet he feels desperate for not being able to be with her. This feeling of confusion gives him fear, but nevertheless wanted to remain hopeful that she will soon learn how to reciprocate his emotions.
Another oxymoron in the poem is burn and freeze. He feels passionately in love with the woman that his heart feels warm and burning his entire being, yet it is reciprocated with the feeling of being frozen in fear. Wyattt used the term freeze like ice because he is overcome by fears that his loved one will not be able to accept his love. In the line freeze like ice, the poet used the figure of speech simile and combined two words and used the proposition “as” or “like” (Granger and Meunier 128).
In the third line fly above the wind means that the poet wanted to show that the intense love that the man felt for the woman made him feel like he is flying in ecstasy. However, despite his high emotions, there is something that pulls him down that he cannot arise. There is a gravity that causes his spirits to fall down. In the line, “nought I have, and all the world I season” (Wyatt 9), it means that even though the man feels that he holds the world in the palm of his hands, it is as if he holds nothing. It means that despite his prized possessions and treasures, they can never compare to the love that he has for his beloved because it is priceless.
In the lines, “That loseth nor locketh holdeth me in prison, And holdeth me not--yet can I scape no wise” (Wyatt 9), the poet wanted to tell the audience that the man is being held captive like a prisoner of his own emotions. The poet’s outlook and state of mind was shown through his weakness to give in to his emotions. The strong feeling of love that he had for the women was too difficult for him to resist, that he feels trapped and does not know how to free himself from his madness. In the succeeding lines, “Nor letteth me live nor die at my device, And yet of death it giveth me occasion” (Wyatt 9), the poet wanted to show that the love of the man for the woman has constrained him toact independently out of his own free will. He was lived his life under the control of his great love and even allowed himself to succumb to the painful emotions to continue dominating him. Here, Wyatt was able to show to the audience in the first octave or 8 lines the paradoxes and conflicts that has affected the state of mind of the man for his beloved.
In the second part of the poem, it is composed of 6 lines known as the sestet. The first two lines which stated that “Without eyen I see, and without tongue I plain. I desire to perish, and yet I ask health” (Wyatt 9). The pain and anguish is overbearing to a fault that there are instances that he wanted to end his life. The poet was able to show that psychological effect of the woman on the man, to the point that he felt he can choose to die to stop the emptiness and pain he felt for his loved one. His depression brought him restlessness and depression to the point that he can even visualize his pain even without the gift of sight. In the lines “I love another, and thus I hate myself” (Wyatt 9), the man has found another woman he has grown to love but is still attached to the love of his life. Despite the fact that he has started to see another woman, he still cannot take his mind and heart away from his one true love. This makes him hate himself even more because he cannot escape from the love of the only woman he truly loved. This mental state has made him feel grief and sadness, but in spite of it all, he tried to find joy in his pain. The man feels regretful because all his efforts in trying to get over his love for the first women remainedunsuccessful. Even though there is another woman he has learned to love, he is still haunted by the love he had for the first woman he truly loved. In the last two lines “Likewise displeaseth me both life and death; And my delight is causer of this strife” (Wyatt 9), the poet feels that even in his life and after his death, he heart will still forever be entwined with the women he truly loved. No matter how hard he tried to forget her, he still cannot escape from the memory of his one true love. He found joy and delight even though he felt anguish and pain. In the end he considered this very pleasure the source of his troubles in life.
In sum, the poem is full of contradiction in terms of expression as the poet demonstrates all his experiences in oxymoron. The theme is about Petrarchan love that is full of self-accusation, self-satire and a satire on the love itself (Sarkar 32). In the end, the audience will come to realize that the lady love is beyond his reach because of their different status in life. The poet became the victim of his own passion that destroyed his peace of mind and left him in desolate condition.