Rumination #2 – Dual Manipulation of the Sexes

Sir Thomas Wyatt’s “They Flee from Me” poetically describes the chase and loss of a mistress. The poem itself serves as a male sexual fantasy but strays from the literature of its time by incorporating rejection at the poem’s conclusion. This rejection serves as a literary power shift from man to woman and suggests that women, as well as men, are capable of using and manipulating their partners.

The language of the poem, while clearly sexual, is also centralized around the concept of “hunting.” Speaking of his many mistresses, the speaker states that “they flee from me that sometime did me seek, with naked foot, stalking in my chamber. I have seen them gentle, tame, and meek, that now are wild and do not remember that sometime they put themselves in danger” (lines 1-5). In these lines, the women he is referring to are paired with verbs and adjectives that are commonly applied to the actual act of “hunting.”  They are “stalked” in his chamber while barefoot (“naked foot”) which is representative of their inherent vulnerability. Additionally, they are described as “gentle, tame, and meek” and are later considered “wild.” These adjectives, while used to describe the women in the poem, are more commonly attributed animals being hunted. This relationship between mistresses and prey exposes the power that the male speaker holds over the women that he pursues. His elevation in status, however, is not permanent.

Later in the poem, after detailing their sexual encounter, the writer gives the mistress a voice when she asks “dear heart, how like you this?” (line 14). This is the first instance of power being attributed to the woman – the man in the poem is made to answer to her, therefore showing a small shift in their roles. The speaker, softened by the intimacy of their encounter, goes on to say that “it was no dream: I lay broad waking. But all is turned through my gentleness, into a strange fashion of forsaking; and I have leave to go of her goodness, and she also, to use newfangleness” (lines 15-19). This instance ties into the title of the poem, “They Flee from Me” in the sense that after their sexual encounter, the mistress is the one to walk out on him. While not too heartbroken, the speaker is certainly surprised at the role reversal that has taken place after getting intimate with the woman in the poem. She uses him as a gateway into a world of “newfangleness” which is described literally as a fondness for novelty, fashion, and overall fickleness. The woman is able to enter into a realm of elevated status by using her sex appeal to get what she wants from the speaker in the same way that he used his status to get what he wanted out of her. When she is done with him, she casts him off in pursuit of bigger and better things.

In essence, Sir Thomas Wyatt’s poem serves as a commentary on the dual manipulation of the sexes and exposes the underlying incentives behind such encounters between man and mistress.

Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542)

They flee from me that Sometime did me Seek

              1They flee from me that sometime did me seek

              2With naked foot, stalking in my chamber.

              3I have seen them gentle, tame, and meek,

              4That now are wild and do not remember

              5That sometime they put themself in danger

              6To take bread at my hand; and now they range,

              7Busily seeking with a continual change.

              8Thanked be fortune it hath been otherwise

              9Twenty times better; but once in special,

            10In thin array after a pleasant guise,

            11When her loose gown from her shoulders did fall,

            12And she me caught in her arms long and small;

            13Therewithall sweetly did me kiss

            14And softly said, "dear heart, how like you this?"

            15It was no dream: I lay broad waking.

            16But all is turned thorough my gentleness

            17Into a strange fashion of forsaking;

            18And I have leave to go of her goodness,

            19And she also, to use newfangleness.

            20But since that I so kindly am served

            21I would fain know what she hath deserved.