“I Find No Peace” Summary

“I Find No Peace” Themes

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  The Joy and Pain of Love

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “I Find No Peace”

• Line 1

  I find no peace, and all my war is done.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 2-4

  I fear and hope. I burn and freeze like ice.
  I fly above the wind, yet can I not arise;
  And nought I have, and all the world I seize on.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  That loseth nor locketh holdeth me in prison
  And holdeth me not—yet can I scape no wise—
  Nor letteth me live nor die at my device,
  And yet of death it giveth me occasion.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-11

  Without eyen I see, and without tongue I plain.
  I desire to perish, and yet I ask health.
  I love another, and thus I hate myself.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 12-14

  I feed me in sorrow and laugh in all my pain;
  Likewise displeaseth me both life and death,
  And my delight is causer of this strife.

  

  

  

  

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“I Find No Peace” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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• End-Stopped Line

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Paradox

  

  

  

  

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• Parallelism

  

  

  

  

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• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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• Simile

  

  

  

  

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“I Find No Peace” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Nought
• Seize On
• Loseth
• Locketh
• Holdeth
• Scape
• No Wise
• Letteth
• Giveth
• Occasion
• Eyen
• Plain
• Perish
• Displeaseth

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “I Find No Peace”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“I Find No Peace” Speaker

“I Find No Peace” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “I Find No Peace”

More “I Find No Peace” Resources

• External Resources

  • Wyatt's Life and Work — Check out Wyatt's biography from the Poetry Foundation.

  • "Whoso List to Hunt" — An interesting article about another of Wyatt's poems, offering insight into the relationship between his poetry and Petrarch's. 

  • Love and the Court — An interesting essay that explores the relationship between love and politics in Wyatt's poetry. 

  • Petrarch's Original — The poem from which Wyatt adapted his, shown in Italian and an alternative translation. 

  • The Egerton Manuscript — A compilation of poems made during Henry VIII's reign, including some poems written in Wyatt's own hand.   

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Sir Thomas Wyatt

  • They Flee From Me

  • Whoso List to Hunt, I Know where is an Hind