A Revocation
What should I say?--Since Faith is dead.And Truth awayFrom you is fled?Should I be ledWith doubleness?Nay! nay! mistress.
I promised you,And you promised me,To be as trueAs I would be.But since I seeYour double heart,Farewell my part!
Thought for to take’Tis not my mind;But to forsakeOne so unkind;And as I findSo will I trust.Farewell, unjust!
Can ye say nayBut that you saidThat I alwayShould be obeyed?And--thus betrayedOr that I wist!Farewell, unkist!
Words in this poem
- doubleness n.
- The state of being double or doubled.
- unkind a.
- Having no race or kindred; childless. [See Kin kindred.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Revocation is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900, Project Gutenberg ebook #66619; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Sir Thomas Wyatt, A Revocation, in Poems (1503–1542), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-sir-thomas-wyatt/a-revocation.html, id L15955.
Form and metre
A Revocation is 28 lines in 4 stanzas of 7 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABBCC, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas; the stanza is the Rhyme royal. The metre is iambic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 4.0 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 39% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyme royal, other poems in iambic dimeter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABBCC sayA · deadB · awayA · fledB · ledB · doublenessC · mistressC
- 2 ABABBCC youA · meB · trueA · beB · seeB · heartC · partC
- 3 ABABBCC takeA · mindB · forsakeA · unkindB · findB · trustC · unjustC
- 4 ---AABB nay · said · alway · obeyedA · betrayedA · wistB · unkistB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| What should I say? | 4 | ···· |
| --Since Faith is dead. | 4 | ···· |
| And Truth away | 4 | ··˘/ |
| From you is fled? | 4 | ···· |
| Should I be led | 4 | ···· |
| With doubleness? | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| Nay! nay! mistress. | 4 | ··/˘ |
| I promised you, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| And you promised me, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| To be as true | 4 | ···· |
| As I would be. | 4 | ···· |
| But since I see | 4 | ···· |
| Your double heart, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Farewell my part! | 4 | ·/·· |
| Thought for to take | 4 | ···· |
| ’Tis not my mind; | 4 | ···· |
| But to forsake | 4 | ··˘/ |
| One so unkind; | 4 | ··˘/ |
| And as I find | 4 | ···· |
| So will I trust. | 4 | ···· |
| Farewell, unjust! | 4 | ·/˘/ |
| Can ye say nay | 4 | ···· |
| But that you said | 4 | ···· |
| That I alway | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Should be obeyed? | 4 | ··˘/ |
| And--thus betrayed | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Or that I wist! | 4 | ···· |
| Farewell, unkist! | 4 | ·/·· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.