Contrasting Notions

Kevin O’Connor

Rumination # 2

“The Long Love That in My Thought Doth Harbour” by: Sir Thomas Wyatt

 Vs.

“Love that doth reign and live within my thought” by: Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey

            Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard have constructed two very similar poems with contrasting thematic contexts. For both of these men love serves as an ideal, yet they realize the impact their respective realities have on their notions of love. The two poets realize their pursuit of such love is their highest achievement, but contend with the fact that these ideals come with various forms of interpretation. Both authors personify love as a separate entity within themselves, a masculine trait personified with the noun “he”, that ultimately contributes either to their well-being. The worlds of these two poets appear to be drastically different, as they handle the topic of love from two very separate experiences.

            For Sir Thomas Wyatt, love constitutes a shared experience between two people, a passion that serves to enrich the ideals of both individuals involved. The lines, “Into my face presseth with bold pretence/ and therein campeth displaying his banner” (lines 3-4), indicates to the reader the overwhelming aspect that love has on the narrator and his perceptions of who he is as an individual. For the narrator, the love he knows constitutes his identity, shaping who he is as a person. The following lines, “And wills that my trust, and lust's negligence/Be reined by reason, shame, and reverence” (lines 7-8) reflect how the narrator’s relation with a woman affects his preconceived notions of love. Through his relationship with this woman he is ultimately able to change as a person, maturing into an individual capable of a higher love with this woman. The line, “with his hardiness take displeasure” indicates that this personified love has taken offense to the narrator’s change in perceptions with regard to love, opting to flee from the narrator. The narrator grapples with the choice he is forced to make, as the love that has left him is the love he has always known. The last line, “For good is the life, ending faithfully” (line 15), communicates to the reader the joy the narrator has found in his new relationship.

            For Henry Howard’s narrator, love is a concept that he wrestled to come to terms with. The lines, “And built his seat within my captive breast,/Clad in arms wherein with me he fought” (lines 2-3), communicate to the reader that the love that fought to dwell within him was initially unsettling, but later led to a form of dependency. For the narrator, the relationship he enters into is one that seems appealing at first, only to take a turn for the worst. In the lines, “Her smiling face converteth straight to ire/And coward Love, then, to the heart apace/Taketh his flight” (lines 8-10) indicate the ideal he has come to depend on has left him when faced with a woman who has failed to live up to his ideal, changing him for the worst. What he has found in his relationship is not the love he sought, and the very notion of love he has had forced on him has left him disappointed.