My Galley by Thomas Wyatt the Elder

"A rain of tears, a cloud of dark disdain ", Sir Thomas Wyatt words in “My Galley”. Wyatt was a 16th-century English lyrical poet attributed to introducing the sonnet into English. Thomas Wyatt was born to Henry and Anne Wyatt at Allington Castle, near Maidstone, Kent, in 1503. Little is known of his childhood education. He was remarkably gifted man. His first court appearance was in 1516 as Sewer Extraordinary to Henry VIII. In 1516 he also entered St. John's College, University of Cambridge. Around 1520, when he was only seventeen years old, he married Lord Cobham's daughter Elizabeth Brooke. She bore him a son, Thomas Wyatt, the Younger, in 1521. He became popular at court, and carried out several foreign missions for King Henry VIII, and also served various offices at home. Wyatt’s “My Galley” is a sonnet typically ranges according to the tradition of Petrarchan. It has the same five rhymes a, b, c, d, e, and can be divided in two parts which is octave and sestet. The sonnet was written by Sir Thomas Wyatt in 1557 during the Renaissance Period in England. The subject matter of a poem can range from being funny to being sad. Wyatt uses of metaphor and imagery presented a quite pessimistic view.
Wyatt is talking about despair, and probably means religious despair. It seems to me that he wrote about the 'sin' of losing your faith in God. He uses the common metaphor of a ship in trouble at sea. " ”My Galley” charged with forgetfulness, thorough sharp seas in winter nights doth pass, Tween rock and rock". Wyatt's ship "his life" is weighed down "charged" with forgetfulness. He cannot remember what the point of life is. He cannot remember what it feels like to know God. Third line is about adrift on a stormy sea, at night, between rocks and is therefore in great danger. "And eke mine enemy, alas, that is my lord, steerth with cruelness". Wyatt feels that God is master of the ship, and that God has deliberately withdrawn Himself from Wyatt; God is steering the ship cruelly. The Wyatt's point of view, God is deliberately hurting him and has become his enemy, as well as being his Lord. "And every oar a thought in readiness, As though that death were light in such a case". A sailing ship which can no longer rely on the wind will sometimes use oars as an emergency solution. Wyatt is trying to think himself out of his despair by using the oars of his thought, but he is in such despair that when he thinks he only thinks of suicide as an escape from his misery. Moreover, he thinks that death were light as if death was not a problem. "An endless wind doth tear the sail apace of forced sighs and trusty fearfulness, a rain of tears, and a cloud of dark disdain, hath done the wearied cords great hindrance, Wreathed with error and eke with ignorance". It gives the sense of sadness like he resembles his tears with a rain; I think it is clever metaphor. Wyatt thinks of his own moaning and tears I think because he is so unhappy. As the winds that are driving his ship toward the rocks of suicide. His tears are the rain beating on the ship, and his despair and lethargy are loosening the rigging which holds the sails in place. Heavy rain could loosen rigging on a sailing ship; then the sails would become loose, and a bad problem would become much worse. "The stars be hid that led me to this pain, Drowned is reason that should me conzort, and I remain despairing of the port", Wyatt says he cannot see the stars. He cannot remember the reasons that once led him to believe in God, so his boat does not know where it is going to. At night a sailing boat travels by reference to the stars but in his stand he did not have any clue where should he go. I think the reason is because Wyatt's ability to understand the world he lives in. And Wyatt just can't see the way out of this. In my point of view, the poem leaves me unsatisfied, confused, directionless just like Wyatt is. Wyatt's “My Galley” Charged with Forgetfulness relies heavily on metaphor and imagery. Through ultimatum of such literary devices, as well as language and tone (Kallich, Gray, and Rodney 55).Wyatt's suggests, through the metaphor of the galley's course that life is meant to run an intentioned course with purpose. Through the stanzas of the poem, it revealed a strong sense of despair in the recognition that such purpose is lost. The poem is loaded with tons of mass. In the beginning there are images painting toil and frustration "thorough sharp seas in winter nights." However, there comes a realization that this is not the cause of the speaker's dejection. There is a hidden reason of why Wyatt is so pessimistic. The impressions of loss and misery are not due to the experience of suffering, but rather that the suffering experienced has no meaning or purpose. At the end of the poem, it shows the strongest portrayals of frustration and unhappiness feelings. As I see and concludes that there is no way out of this predicament. He is as trapped by this fate as a man is trapped when lost out in the middle of the sea. The words "the stars be hid" also sounds as if the reasons are actively concealed his knowledge by device, and reveals a voice of aggravation and disappointment. Throughout the poem there is a theme of inescapable fate reinforced by the metaphor of the galley at sea. The metaphor of the ship's lord being the master of the speaker and decider of fate gives the speaker an object toward which to project his sorrow. There are multiple points where the speaker blames this problem he has on the lord of his galley, that he "Hath done the wearied cords great hindrance, Wreathed with error and eke with ignorance."

This lord depicted is cruel, is incompetent, and has ruined the cords of the ship as well as the course of the speaker's life. The idea is that the speaker feels things are not the way they are supposed to be. As the cords of a ship control the sails, the cords that tie the speaker's life together are strained and coming apart from the traveling. While he does not like how or where his life is going, he has no say in this matter. The metaphor is enforced with language suggesting that he has been robbed of something that belonged to him, or that he has suffered a loss and is grieving. There is a heavy sense of bereavement. The lack of consolation also comes in that the reason for suffering is lost to him because "Drowned is reason that should me consort." The word "consort" also verbalizes a sense that in having no accompaniment, the speaker is walking through life alone. It appropriately aligns with the seafaring metaphor.

At the same time that he is protesting this injustice with a strong sense of resentment, never does he address his lord--the one he blames. The lord of the galley works as a metaphor for a divine figure, perhaps God, fate, or whatever sovereign, indisputable, outside force that controls his every circumstance. The speaker's resignation to this fate and state of despair without question, demand, or even hope for anything more suggests an understanding and acceptance of a force of undeniable sovereignty.

The rhyme scheme of the poem also supports the conceit because while the lines are configured out of obvious design, the pattern is not one that is particularly common. It follows a rhyme scheme format of a-b-b-a-a-c-c-a-d-e-e-d-f-f. This sort of flow parallels the conceit of the poem, reflecting the speaker's view of his life. The words are not just a random mess, sporadic and spontaneous, yet they also are still not quite predictable. Life flows by a purposed design, but not one that can be predicted or expected. Likewise, there is not a specific meter to the poem, but each line still maintains a very close number of feet. It is structured, but not in a way that can be measured and counted upon. This device also keeps the pace of the poem even, and the length of the lines serve to make the read more story-like, as well as portray a settled, quiet tone.

Wyatt's use of repeating sounds particularly sentences ending with the "s" sound recur throughout the poem in emphasis of this conceit. The "s" at the end draws out the reading of the line, reflecting the sense of the on-going journey as well as the drudgery. It's also a soft consonant, giving it a quiet air. This is not a raging poem; it is a poem of quiet disappointed resentment and accepted sorrow. It also brings to mind the hiss of a candle going out, keeping with the theme of this poem and reiterating the transience of the journey of life. The overall matter culminates precisely as the speaker says in closing: "despairing of the port." The heavy use of nautical imagery reiterates the movement of the poem. This use of a nautical metaphor further reveals the specific sense of the speaker's journey through life. It is heavy with depictions of the sea and its storms, as well as objects involved with seafaring, bringing the reader into the feeling the speaker has of being lost at sea. It is an air of total.

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