The Full Text of “They Flee From Me”
1They flee from me that sometime did me seek
2With naked foot, stalking in my chamber.
3I have seen them gentle, tame, and meek,
4That now are wild and do not remember
5That sometime they put themself in danger
6To take bread at my hand; and now they range,
7Busily seeking with a continual change.
8Thanked be fortune it hath been otherwise
9Twenty times better; but once in special,
10In thin array after a pleasant guise,
11When her loose gown from her shoulders did fall,
12And she me caught in her arms long and small;
13Therewithall sweetly did me kiss
14And softly said, “Dear heart, how like you this?”
15It was no dream: I lay broad waking.
16But all is turned thorough my gentleness
17Into a strange fashion of forsaking;
18And I have leave to go of her goodness,
19And she also, to use newfangleness.
20But since that I so kindly am served
21I would fain know what she hath deserved.
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“They Flee From Me” Introduction
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"They Flee From Me" is a poem by the 16th-century English poet and courtier Thomas Wyatt. In the poem, the speaker laments the fact that he has fallen from favor—the women who used to "seek" him in his "chamber" now seem to "flee" from him. The poem is often associated with Wyatt's own biography—he is famously rumored to have had an affair with Anne Boleyn, one of Henry VIII's wives—but the poem more generally captures the sense of confusion, regret, and bitterness that can come with the end of a relationship. It also provides a great insight into the world of intrigue, suspicion, and changing fortunes that was the Tudor court (the Tudor dynasty ruled over England for three centuries).
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“They Flee From Me” Summary
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These days, my ex-lovers avoid me—the same people who used to sneak barefooted into my quarters. I remember them as shy, gentle creatures. Now they're wild, and don't even remember how they used put themselves at risk just to come and take a piece of bread from my hand. Nowadays they roam about, constantly seeking something new.
I'm glad that things used to be better—much better, in fact. I remember one particularly special occasion when a lover came to see, scantily dressed after an enjoyable show. Her gown easily slipped off of her shoulders, and she held me in her long, small arms and gently kissed me, asking me in a whisper how I liked it.
That wasn't a dream: I was wide awake. But everything has changed because I was too gentle and nice, and now she totally ignores me. She lets me do my thing while she focuses on her own fickle needs. Since she's never blatantly mistreated me it's hard to know how to feel about her.
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“They Flee From Me” Themes
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Love and Relationships
“They Flee From Me” expresses an idea that most modern readers can relate to: love and relationships are complicated! In the poem, the speaker tries to make sense of the fact that while women use to “seek” him, now they actively avoid him. The speaker puzzles over how drastically the relationship between two people can change; how what was once an intense, exciting intimacy can so quickly become a cold kind of distance. Ultimately the poem presents love, on the one hand, as a deep and beautiful mystery, and, on the other as a rather cynical power game between people (which, in the England’s royal court during the 16th century, could literally be a matter of life and death!).
In the past, the speaker enjoyed receiving female visitors to his “chamber”—some of whom put themselves at risk “to take bread at [his] hand,” perhaps suggesting that the excitement of an illicit affair was in the atmosphere. The poem thus initially presents love as something thrilling, the key to a door of a special kind of intimate beauty. It also presents the speaker as squarely in control of these actions.
The speaker then recalls how a specific lover, wearing only a thin gown, kissed him “sweetly” and held him tight. The speaker cherishes this memory, marking it out as a particularly “special” time in his life. This is the simple side of love, in which life makes sense in the arms of another.
But the poem stresses that this kind of simplicity is fleeting (or, perhaps, “flee-ing”!). Love is not just sweetness and intimacy, then, but also a kind of power struggle. To emphasize this, the poem makes use of one Wyatt’s common metaphors: that love is a kind of hunt, an issue of predator vs. prey.
Wyatt’s speaker was once top of the food chain, so to speak, visited by “gentle, tame, and meek” creatures. But soon enough these roles are subverted—the hunted becomes the hunter, and the hunter (the speaker) becomes an irrelevance, "forsak[en]" by his lover. Nothing can be taken for granted when it comes to love, the poem implies, and yesterday’s prey could be tomorrow’s predator. The speaker’s lover is free to pursue other love interests—"to use newfangleness," to sow her wild outs—leaving the speaker to wonder what happened.
With this in mind, the poem can be read as an expression of the confusion—and, perhaps, bitterness—caused by love. The speaker knows his love affair was “no dream,” but he doesn’t know how to feel about the new dynamic between himself and his lover now that she's moved on. He’s not even sure if she “deserve[s]” his kindness or his anger. He wonders if her was too “gentle,” and should have asserted himself more strongly on his lover’s “wild[ness].” The poem, then, manages to highlight the way that love can seem so intense and real—as if it will last forever—while, on the other hand, feelings between two lovers can change beyond recognition almost in an instant.
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “They Flee From Me”
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Lines 1-2
They flee from me that sometime did me seek
With naked foot, stalking in my chamber.The first line sets up the speaker's problem: while an unnamed "they" used to "seek" him, now they "flee" (or run away) from him. Soon enough it will be clear that the speaker is talking about his lovers, but for now things remain vague. A clue as to who this "they" refers to does appear in line 2, however, with the phrase "naked foot." This means barefoot but also suggests sexual intimacy, that the air was charged with excitement whenever "they" sought the speaker out.
The opening lines also set up the poem's extended metaphor/conceit, which portrays love and sex as a kind of hunt. Take the word "stalking," which creates an image of these barefoot creatures prowling around the speaker's chamber as a predator prowls around its prey. The speaker thus uses animalistic language to paint relationships between people as something primal, instinctual, and even dangerous. On that note, it's worth noting that Wyatt was a courtier in Henry VIII's court, which meant that sleeping with the wrong person—or, similarly, being accused of some sexual wrongdoing—really could result in death!
Now, the speaker has apparently fallen out of favor with this "they." He doesn't specify why this has happened, but the context of the poem might again offer some clues: the fragility of personal loyalties and the suspicion that came with this was one of the defining features the English court during the Tudor period (1485-1603).
The sounds of these lines are also notable. Take the assonance between "flee," "me," and "seek," which draws readers' attention to the contrast between the speaker's two states—being fled from and being sought out. Meanwhile, the hissing sibilance throughout these lines ("sometime," "seek," "stalking") conveys a quiet world of whispers and intrigue.
These lines also establish the poem's meter, which is iambic pentameter. This means that each line has five iambs, poetic feet with a da-DUM rhythm:
They flee | from me | that some- | time did | me seek
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Lines 3-7
I have seen them gentle, tame, and meek,
That now are wild and do not remember
That sometime they put themself in danger
To take bread at my hand; and now they range,
Busily seeking with a continual change.
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Lines 8-11
Thanked be fortune it hath been otherwise
Twenty times better; but once in special,
In thin array after a pleasant guise,
When her loose gown from her shoulders did fall, -
Lines 12-14
And she me caught in her arms long and small;
Therewithall sweetly did me kiss
And softly said, “Dear heart, how like you this?” -
Lines 15-21
It was no dream: I lay broad waking.
But all is turned thorough my gentleness
Into a strange fashion of forsaking;
And I have leave to go of her goodness,
And she also, to use newfangleness.
But since that I so kindly am served
I would fain know what she hath deserved.
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“They Flee From Me” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Alliteration
Alliteration is used throughout "They Flee From Me." In the first two lines, for example, soft /f/ sounds combine with sibilance to create a hushed atmosphere:
They flee from me that sometime did me seek
With naked foot, stalking in my chamber.The /s/ sound has a particularly whispery quality to it, suggesting that there was something dangerous or illicit about the romantic meetings the speaker here recalls. That quietness fits with the idea of a predator "stalking" its prey, patiently waiting for the right moment to strike.
In the second stanza, the speaker remembers a cherished night that he spent with his ex-lover. Life was "Twenty times better" than it is now, the speaker says, the alliteration working to intensify this sentiment (which can be read as a kind of exaggeration or hyperbole); that double /t/ sounds makes the phrase stand out all the more strongly for the reader.
Later in the same stanza, the poem returns to the sibilant /s/ sound to suggest passion and intimacy:
And she me caught in her arms long and small;
Therewithall sweetly did me kiss
And softly said, “Dear heart, how like you this?”The breathy /h/ sounds and additional consonance of /s/ sounds contributes to the effect here, evoking a hushed—but erotically charged—atmosphere.
Another example of alliteration appears in line 17:
Into a strange fashion of forsaking;
Here, the speaker is wondering if his lover's change of heart is part of a new "fashion of forsaking." That is, he suspects that there is a new trend in town, one which involves no longer remaining loyal to him in order to pursue other love interests. He sees it as a kind of artifice or pretension, which he struggles to reconcile in his mind with the emotional and physical intimacy of the moment described in the second stanza. Alliteration is one way in which the poem can perform this kind of artifice, reminding the reader that the poem is something constructed and deliberate. The /f/ is sound is strikingly visible, like a new style of hat that everyone suddenly seems to be wearing around town.
The poem's penultimate line turns the earlier /s/ alliteration on its head:
But since that I so kindly am served
These /s/ sounds have an embittered quality, as though the speaker is talking through gritted teeth.
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Assonance
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Caesura
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Consonance
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End-Stopped Line
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Enjambment
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Extended Metaphor
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Hyperbole
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Sibilance
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“They Flee From Me” 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.
- Flee
- Sometime
- Seek
- Naked Foot
- Chamber
- Meek
- Themself
- Range
- Hath
- Thin Array
- Guise
- Therewithal
- Thorough
- Have Leave
- Newfangleness
- Fain
Flee-
To run away in a hurry, as though from danger.
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “They Flee From Me”
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Form
"They Flee From Me" consists of three septets (seven-line stanzas). The poem uses rhyme royal, a form introduced to English by the 14th-century author of The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer. The poem is steady in its form, perhaps reflecting the speaker's desire to control and understand his lovers. Of course, these lovers break free from the speaker's control, "rang[ing]" or wandering in search of new lovers and experiences. The poem's steady form, then, contrasts with the confusing reality of the speaker's experiences.
It's also interesting to consider that "stanza" means "room" in Italian, which is the language from which the word originates. The poem, then, consists of three rooms, or "chamber[s]," giving the reader a subtle visual representation of the different living quarters of the royal court. Each stanza, or room, has a distinct function in the poem. Overall, the speaker compares then with now—how much better life used to be compared to his present situation.
The first stanza declares that the same people who used to "seek" the speaker now "flee" from him, and that these lovers who were once tame and now are wild. The second stanza goes deeper into the speaker's psychology, dealing with one particularly cherished—"special"—memory. The poem here is intensely intimate, with the reader becoming almost an unwelcome guest. In the final stanza, the speaker then feels the need to affirm that the memory was real and not a dream. But such is the change in circumstances that the past might as well have been his imagination, leaving the speaker in a state of total confusion.
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Meter
"They Flee From Me" is written in iambic pentameter, with some variations. This means that most lines consist of five feet, each of which has an unstressed-stressed (da-DUM) beat pattern. The first line is a good example of this meter at work:
They flee | from me | that some- | time did | me seek
This starts the poem on stable footing, and perhaps hints at the deliberate steps taken by a hunter as they stalk their prey. Iambic pentameter was often used in poetry composed at court—and for royal occasions—so the meter also helps establish the setting.
The poem has numerous examples of variation in the meter. A number of lines end with an unstressed syllable, something called a "feminine ending." For example, both "chamber" and "remember" both end with a soft final beat. These unstressed endings help the poem build a sense of tension between strength and gentleness, and, in the context of the poem's main metaphor, between predator (strong stresses) and prey (weak stresses).
There is another major variation worthy of close attention in lines 11-12:
In thin | array | after | a pleas- | ant guise,
When her | loose gown | from her shoul- | ders did fall,While the line 10—the first of the two quoted above—fits relatively well into the poem's general iambic pentameter pattern (albeit with a trochee variation in the third foot: "after"), the following line is all over the place. As the lover's "gown" falls in the memory of the speaker's mind, so too does the iambic fabric of the poem's rhythm. This also suggests the heightened atmosphere of sexual excitement and anticipation, as though the poem is getting carried away with itself. The feet in the line above are scanned here as a pyrrhic (two unstressed syllables), spondee (two stressed syllables), and two anapaests, but there is no single authoritative way to notate the meter.
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Rhyme Scheme
"They Flee From Me" follows a rhyme scheme known as rhyme royal. A stanza of rhyme royal consists of seven lines (a septet) which follows the pattern:
ABABBCC
The pattern is relatively intricate, and its complexity seems to provide an effective vehicle for the speaker's conflicting feelings about his lovers/exes. The rhymes in general give the poem a slow but steady forward motion, perhaps helping the poem evoke the deliberate (but small) movements of a hunter.
Sometimes, the rhyme words are linked together conceptually as well. In lines 6 and 7, for example, "range" and "change" describe the new world that the speaker finds himself in—one in which is lovers appear to go everywhere except for his chambers, looking for anything and everything except for him.
The second stanza uses a number of delicate, single-syllable words to help heighten the atmosphere of physical and emotional intimacy. The speaker cherishes the memory of being in his lover's "long and small" arms, "fall[ing]" into them. "Kiss" and "this" in the stanza's ending couplet are so simple and gentle that they seem to evoke the way that love—and the expression of love in physical form—can momentarily shut out the noise of the outside world.
The most notable rhyme in the final stanza is also its closing couplet:
But since that I so kindly am served
I would fain know what she hath deserved.The similarity of "served" and "deserved" is somewhat clunky, and seems to end the poem in a state of confusion or disorientation that fits with the speaker's state of mind.
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“They Flee From Me” Speaker
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"They Flee From Me" is written from the first-person perspective, allowing the speaker to examine his own complicated feelings about love and relationships. The poem is often interpreted autobiographically in light of Wyatt's own colorful love life (indeed, this is why this guide uses male pronouns for the speaker, which make the most sense given the poem's context; it is possible to read it differently, however). Wyatt was rumored to have had an affair with Anne Boleyn, one of Henry VIII's many wives over the years. That said, knowing this biographical information is not necessary to reading, understanding, and enjoying the poem.
What's clear is that the speaker is conflicted and embittered about how his life has changed. He used to be desired, and those who desired him (which may be one or multiple lovers) would put themselves at risk to spend time in his presence. Now, however, those used to "seek" him actively "flee" from him, and the speaker doesn't really understand why.
Thinking about his situation leads the speaker to remember one "special" time when he was "caught" in his lover's arms, an occasion he affirms was "no dream." It's fair to say that there remains a lingering sense of affection and desire for this lover on the speaker's part, even if she now follows a new "fashion of forsaking" (that is, avoiding him). By the end of the poem, the speaker is none the wiser—he remains confused, unsure what his ex-lover "deserve[s]."
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“They Flee From Me” Setting
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"They Flee From Me" takes place mostly in the speaker's "chamber," or bedroom/living quarters, where various lovers used to visit him. The poem also moves in time from the speaker's present, when women avoid the speaker, to the past. The poem is a comparison between then—the "seeking" era—and now—the "fleeing" era. The poem can also be thought of as set in the speaker's mind as he tries to puzzle out why those lovers that used to "seek" him now actively avoid being in his company.
Wyatt was a court poet during the reign of Henry VIII, and this was a time when saying or doing the wrong thing could get you killed. That atmosphere of paranoia and intrigue creeps into the first stanza with words like "stalking" and "danger." The gentle sounds in the first stanza also give the poem a hushed quiet, representing both the time when lovers would sneak to the speaker's chambers and the more disappointing isolation he feels now. The second stanza is then set entirely in the speaker's memory, while the third brings it back to the harsh realities of the present. Nowadays, he sees his ex-lover going about the court, but she always manages to avoid him.
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Literary and Historical Context of “They Flee From Me”
Literary Context
Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542) was an important poet in English literary history and is credited with numerous innovations, including being one of the writers to introduce the sonnet to the English language. The sonnet form originated in Italy and was often used by 14th-century Italian poet Francesco Petrarch (hence the term "Petrarchan sonnet").
Wyatt produced a number of translations of Petrarch, whose influence is on display in "They Flee From Me." For an interesting comparison, readers should look to Wyatt's sonnet "Whoso List to Hunt, I Know where is an Hind" and the inspiration behind it: Petrarch's "Una candida cerva sopra l'erba." Both poems feature hunting as a central metaphor for love and sex, which is carried over into this poem.
Another of Wyatt's main influences was Geoffrey Chaucer, a 14th-century poet often dubbed the "father of English poetry." Like Wyatt, Chaucer often took forms from mainland Europe and innovated them for the English language. The rhyme royal scheme, which is on display here, was used extensively by Chaucer and may have been adapted from French or Italian forms. Rhyme royal was later used by William Shakespeare in "The Rape of Lucrece."
"They Flee From Me" deals with a subject that is as old as poetry itself: love. The poem is remarkably modern in the way that it doesn't try to reduce the complexities of the speaker's feelings—he doesn't know how to act, but expresses this state of doubt in clear and certain language. Wyatt was writing during the Renaissance period in English literature, which later featured one of the finest love poets of all time: John Donne. Both Wyatt and Donne were relatively bold for the time in the eroticism of their work.
Historical Context
"They Flee From Me" offers contemporary readers a glimpse into the tense atmosphere of the royal court of Henry VIII, a Tudor King. The Tudor period ran from 1485 to 1603. Particularly during Henry's reign, this was a time of societal turmoil. For example, Henry VIII famously pitted himself against the Catholic Church, angry that they would not sanctify his desire to trade in his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, for the younger Anne Boleyn.
Thomas Wyatt, an important part of Henry VIII's court, was often embroiled in Henry's political wranglings, even for a time serving as ambassador to Rome. The suspicion and paranoia surrounding England's position in Europe played out in miniature in Henry's court, where a number of his key staff and associates would live. Wyatt, for example, was nearly executed for allegedly having an affair with Anne Boleyn. He may even have witnessed her own execution from his window in the Tower of London.
While Wyatt's poems are often interpreted along biographical lines, they endure because they go beyond the specifics of his situation. Modern readers are perhaps just as likely to relate to the conflicted feelings contained in this poem as Wyatt's contemporaries.
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More “They Flee From Me” Resources
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External Resources
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The Poem Out Loud — Hear the poem read by actor Andrew Scott.
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Wyatt's Life and Work — Learn more about Wyatt at the Poetry Foundation.
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Love Poetry During the Renaissance — An article from the British Library that looks at the work of poets like Wyatt and John Donne.
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The Egerton Manuscript — A compilation of poems made during Henry VIII's reign, including some poems written in Wyatt's own hand.
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"Whoso List to Hunt" — An interesting article about another of Wyatt's poems, offering insight into the relationship between his poetry and Petrarch's.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Sir Thomas Wyatt
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