I Find no Peace BY SIR THOMAS WYATT
I find no peace, and all my war is done.
I fear and hope. I burn and freeze like ice.
I fly above the wind, yet can I not arise;
And nought I have, and all the world I season.
That loseth nor locketh holdeth me in prison
And holdeth me not—yet can I scape no wise—
Nor letteth me live nor die at my device,
And yet of death it giveth me occasion.
Without eyen I see, and without tongue I plain.
I desire to perish, and yet I ask health.
I love another, and thus I hate myself.
I feed me in sorrow and laugh in all my pain;
Likewise displeaseth me both life and death,
And my delight is causer of this strife.
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Answers
- What situation is the speaker reflecting on?
The author is expressing his confessions towards love. He has many feelings, but the one that he shows the most is suffer and discomfort.
- What metaphors and similes does he use to express his feelings?
“my war is done”: he uses the world war to show the suffering and the effort that he has made
“I burn and freeze like ice”: this is a metaphor and a simile also. He uses two opposite states to represent his confusion.
- How many separate paradoxes are in the poem?
There are 10 paradoxes.
- What is the cumulative effect of so many paradoxes?
The paradoxes show how love awakens confusion. The voice reflects how he feels and he shows how he feels for it. Wyatt is in love, but he suffers for it. This contradictions are present in every paradox.
- What is the general topic of the paradoxes in lines 1-4?
The general topic is confusion and mixture of feelings. He feels many things and those internal changes are caused by love.
- What is the general topic of the paradoxes in lines 5-8?
The general topic is imprisonment. He can not escape from what he feels, but there is nobody incarcerating him.
- Why does the speaker in line 11 declare that hating himself is the consequence of loving another?
At the beginning of the poem he expressed the suffer that he was feeling towards that passionate love. His idea in this lines is that loving somebody else involves hurting yourself, spending more time on the other person than for your own, and risking. This is damaging your soul and hating yourself.
- Why is it ironic that his “delight” is the “causer of this strife”?
Because “delight” is what causes pleasure and joy. We are not supposed to suffer and agonize towards delight. This shows what the voice thinks and lives love. He does not enjoy this delight, he is hurt by it.
9.To what extent do you think the paradoxes are an accurate expression of the feelings of a person in love, particularly in light of the fact that in the 16th century the completely free and unchaperoned meetings of lovers were not easily arranged?
I think that love produces confusion. Paradoxes show contradictory statements, and in this case shows two very different feelings. Love is not something clear and certain, so paradoxes are present
In the 16th century, loving two women was even more difficult. This could not be even considered, and this paradoxes perfectly portray this suffering and misgiving that he was feeling.
Here’s my ANIMOTO!
- To what extent do the paradoxes capture the agonies of the speaker? Paradoxes capture the agonies of the speaker in a perfect way. It is very clear the feeling of frustration that he had in his inside. He has a mixture of feelings that have nothing to do and paradoxes portray this turmoil in his life.