Alas poore man what hap have I

The Devonshire Manuscript · Wikibooks

0%

Contents

    Text

    Size
    100%
    Theme
    Typeface
    Line length
    Spacing

    From Wikibooks, under CC BY-SA 4.0, as the source states it. This page at Wikibooks.

    Introduction  |  Contributors  |  Textual Introduction
    The Devonshire Manuscript
    Bibliography A-M  |  Bibliography N-Z  |  Encoded Materials

    ←My lute awake performe the last labor Marvell nomore Altho→
    Illustration
    The Devonshire Manuscript facsimile 15v
    Illustration
    The Devonshire Manuscript facsimile 16r

     f. [15v] 

    1    3 Alas poore man what hap have I
    2    that must fforbere that{{th}+t+} I love best
    3    I trow yt be my desteny
    4    neuer{u'} to lyve in quiet Rest

    5    No wonder ys tho I complayn
    6    not with{w+t+}owt cawse ye may be sure
    7    I seke ffor that I cannot attayn
    8    Whyche ys my mortall dysplesure

    9    Alas pore hart as in thys case
    10 {es}{w+t+}   With pensyff playntes thow art opprest
    11    Vnwysse thow were to desyre place
    12    Where as another ys possest1

    13    Do what I can to ese thy smart
    14    thow wylt not let to love her styll
    15    hyrs & not myn I se thow Art
    16    let her do by the As she wyll

    17    A carefull carkace full of payn
    18    now hast thow lefft to morne for thee{{th}+e+}
    19    the hart ons gone the body ys slayn
    20    that euer{u'} I saw her wo ys me

    f. [16r] 

    21    Myn Iye alas was cawse of thys
    22    whyche her to se had neuer{u'} hys ffyll
    23    to me that syght full bytter ys
    24    in Recompence of my good wyll

    25    She that I sarve all other above
    26    hathe payd my hyre as ye may se
    27    I was vnhappy & that I prove
    28    to love Above my poore degre

    Iohn crow to serve / 'v'2 hondyrd /

    Notes & Glosses

         1. It is unusual to have each line of the stanza capitalized.
         2. The lines represented by single quotes are upper virgules.

    Commentary

    Attributed to Sir Thomas Wyatt,[1] this poem was entered by H2. "Alas poore man what hap have I" describes the complaint of a poor man who loves above his degree.

    The first word of each line is capitalized, which is an unusual embellishment in the manuscript.

    Works Cited

    1. ↑ R.A. Rebholz, ed., Sir Thomas Wyatt: The Complete Poems (London: Penguin, 1978), 151-52.