Perspectives of Love in Thomas Wyatts They Flee From Me,...

In past poetry, love and romance has been interpreted in many ways but mainly in a form known as sad and heartbreaking experiences. During the sixteenth century and times before that, many authors expressed love as gloomy and also wrote in the favor of men. Two interesting portrayals of love are in the sonnet â€Å"They Flee From Me† by Thomas Wyatt and collection of sonnets â€Å"Amoretti† by Edmund Spencer. In these poems, love is described mostly in two opposite ways. While â€Å"They Flee From Me† portrays men as the victim to women and their deviousness, â€Å"Amoretti† takes an opposing turn from how most poetry of that time wrote about love by celebrating it in a positive and joyful way. â€Å"Amoretti† was a change and very different from most writings†¦show more content†¦During this poem a male character is receiving visits from a woman or women at night. Initially, it can be inferred from reading and careful analysis that our male character is a victim to the female character. This is how Wyatt displays a sort of misogynist view of women and females in relations with men. In this sonnet the female figure is made to look a tad conniving, untrustworthy, and uncontrollable. The line from the poem that supports this states, â€Å"I have seen them gentle, tame, and meek, That now are wild and do not remember† (485). This could mean she once only had eyes for him and somehow lost interest, which is the cause of his depression. A few lines down the peom says, â€Å"And now they range, Busily seeking with a continual change†(485). This means that she is hungry for something that will please her and satisfy her appetite whatever it may be but we know for sure it is not our male character as he sulks at the sight of her careless wondering. He yearns for her loyalty to be only to him and is depressed by the fact that he may never have or be able to grasp it. This is a characteristic of love that is unobtainable and the writings of sorrow from heartache. This void and need leaves the male character creating a gloomy mood to the sonnet. Here we can c learly see how roles are switched where as our male character is the tool