The Lover Sendeth Sighs to Moan his Suit, Sir Thomas Wyatt

edited by Abby Murphy

Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503 P1542) became an accomplished courtier, diplomat, and poet under the reign of King Henry VIII. The sonnet edited here was included in the Egerton and Devonshire manuscripts, as well as in Tottel's Miscellany, placing its composition before 1535, when the Egerton Manuscript was compiled. I have chosen to edit the version found in the first edition of Tottel, which was published in June of 1557. The versions found in the Manuscripts differ from the version in Tottel in many aspects, but Tottel was the source that was most widely distributed and therefore most widely read.

Go, burning sighs, unto the frozen heart.
Go, break the ice which pity's painful dart
Might never pierce, and if that mortal prayer
In heaven be heard, at least yet I desire
That death or mercy end my woeful smart.          	5
Take with thee pain, whereof I have my part,
And eke the flame from which I cannot start,
And leave me then in rest, I you require.
Go, burning sighs, fulfill that I desire!
I must go work, I see, by craft and art,            	10 
For truth and faith in her is laid apart:
Alas, I can not therefore assail her
With pitiful complaint and scalding fire
That from my breast deceivably doth start.


2. dart] arrow.
3. mortal] human, perhaps "from a dying man".
5. smart] pain, grief.
7. eke] also. start] recoil.
9. that] that which.
11. laid apart] dismissed.
12. assail] address with the intention of persuading or convincing.
14. deceivably] deceitfully ("straynably" in the manuscripts). start] spring forth.

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