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Name: Cora Tyrrell

Student ID: 20249802

Module: EH4022 English Literature 2: Early Modern Poetry and Plays

Lecturer: Carrie Griffin

Date: 4 March 2021

Word Count: 1003

B) Thomas Wyatt, “Blame Not My Lute”

Sir Thomas Wyatt is possibly the most influential poet of the 16th century, accredited

with creating the sonnet and specialising in writing about courtly affairs during the reign of

Henry VIII. The poem I will be dissecting today is an ideal representation of Wyatt’s

commentary on the priorities of the court at the time. It’s a perfect blend of the political and

personal that allows for various different readings and analyses, in spite of (or perhaps to the

credit of) its rather ‘plain style’ of language used (Greene, 38). At first glance, the ultimate

implication of the poem can be summed up as a don’t-shoot-the-messenger sort of sentiment,

However, once you examine the language used to describe the lute and the almost personal

relationship between Wyatt’s speaker and the audience, the poem begins to present a more

layered message than originally thought.

One most notable feature of the piece is the personification of the lute throughout.

The lute is repeatedly referred to as ‘he,’ such as in the opening lines “Blame not my lute, for

he must sound / Of this or that as liketh me:” (1-2). This can be read in two equally intriguing

ways, depending on whether you are interpreting the poem as political or more romance-
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oriented. If we imagine the speaker is Henry VIII and that the lute is a metaphor for Wyatt

himself, or some other member of the court, it gives us insight into Wyatt’s attitude towards

his role as an adviser to the king. It seems he views himself as merely an instrument of the

monarch, a vessel for the king to communicate with the public without fear of direct

backlash, rather than an individual allowed to express his own ideas and opinions. This

interpretation is particularly interesting when you consider the line “My lute and strings may

not deny, / But as I strike they must obey:” (15-16). This violent image describes an almost

abusive relationship between the speaker and the lute, or at least implies the domination of

the speaker over the lute. Perhaps Wyatt feels, as a member of the court, caught between the

demands of his superior and the “spiteful” reactions of the general public (20).

That said, once you examine the language used to describe the audience to which the

speaker addresses throughout the poem, you quickly begin to develop an understanding based

more around love and betrayal than politics. Or rather, you notice how Wyatt almost

personifies the audience as a false ex-lover. As the story of the poem unfolds, the person or

people that the speaker is addressing grow in vitriol, as it is implied that whatever harsh

message the speaker has holds truth for the people listening- “Though my songs be somewhat

strange, / And speak such words as touch thy change, unfaithfulness / Blame not my lute.” (4-

6). This is made apparent through the various references to the “unfaithfulness” of the

audience (5) with the use of phrases such as “And toucheth some that use to feign,” (13) as

well as calling into question how “true” the listener actually is (27). In this interpretation of

the poem, it can be understood that the speaker is trying to seek closure from a failed

relationship by confronting his old flame and exposing her false character, caring little about

whether she reacts violently. In fact, based on the lofty tone used by the speaker in the final

stanza it seems perhaps the speaker’s goal was always to incite violence, or at least to receive

a reaction from his unfaithful lover- “Farewell, unknown, for though thou break / My strings
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in spite with great disdain, / Yet have I found out for thy sake / Strings for to string my lute

again.” (36-39). In this instance, the refrain “Blame not my lute” reads differently, as at the

beginning of the poem it seemed the speaker was perhaps trying to take accountability for the

message carried by the lute. However, with this new understanding of the virtue of the

audience hearing the speaker’s word, it becomes apparent the speaker is placing the blame

squarely on the shoulders of the unfaithful listener who has wronged him.

As for the mechanics of the poem, Wyatt sticks rigidly to his ABABCCD rhyming

scheme in each of the six stanzas. In the penultimate line, the poet changes the rhythm of the

stanza slightly by adding a comma in between phrases- “Do make thee blush, at any time,”

(41) giving an added emphasis to the final refrain of “Blame not my lute.” which at this point

in the poem, for reasons I demonstrated in the last paragraph, has shifted in meaning. The

direct and uncomplicated language used throughout the poem coincides with the speaker’s

own description of his message- “Then though my songs be somewhat plain,” (12). As

Greene puts it, the poem “acknowledges its plainness and claims a moral force in its

directness,” driving home the meaning of the poem with the repetition of its overall message

(38). This makes sense when considering the interpretation of a king or courtier addressing a

crowd of commoners. Overall, I find the language and mechanics serve to compliment the

general tone of the piece.

This is a poem that manages to be multi-layered without using overly complicated

mechanics and as a result, the message, the tone, and the language all complement each other.

It also manages to examine the role of a courtier from a political point of view as well as

referencing the often scandalous love lives of the members of the court. Most interestingly,

the meaning behind its main message evolves over the course of the six stanzas despite the

speaker being very forthright with the point he is making in the very opening lines- “Blame
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not my lute, for he must sound / Of this or that as liketh me:” (1-2). In all, this is a very well

fleshed out piece of work and I am sure I’ll find new, interesting details each time I reread it.
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Works Cited

Roland Greene, “Thomas Wyatt.” The Cambridge Companion to English Poets,

edited by Claude Rawson, Cambridge University Press, 2011, pp. 37-52.

Yeowell, James, Ed, The Poetical Works of Sir Thomas Wyatt,

London, George Bell and Sons, 1904, pp. 96-98.