Literary Devices in Whoso List to Hunt

The phrase “who list her hunt” echoes the poem’s first line—“Whoso list to hunt.” Wyatt’s repetition of this phrase at the start of the concluding sestet again invokes the audience of hypothetical suitors, thus continuing to prioritize masculine needs and expectations while ignoring those of the woman he hunts.

Wyatt employs personification, or the attribution of human qualities to nonhuman things, in his depiction of the hind. Personification is an important component of the sonnet’s extended metaphor, in which the hind represents a woman being pursued.

Lines five, six, and seven feature enjambment, a device in which a sentence or phrase that begins in one line of verse flows into the next line. In this scenario, enjambment reinforces both the sonnet’s rhythm and the imagery that develops the scene of a weary hunter as he tries to catch the hind.

Line five uses alliteration, or the repetition of consonant sounds. By repeating the consonant sound “m” in “may,” “means,” “my,” and “mind,” Wyatt mimics the obsessional, repetitive thoughts of the speaker. Further, the alliterative phrases emphasize the speaker’s frustration instead of considering the deer’s experience of being hunted. Wyatt thus develops the themes of masculine entitlement and desire in the context of courtship while paradoxically portraying the hunter as a victim.

Wyatt begins the sonnet with an apostrophe, or an address to someone or something that is unable to respond. In this case, the apostrophe (“Whoso list to hunt”) aims at other hypothetical male suitors. The apostrophe amounts to a rhetorical question that allows the speaker to tell of his wearisome hunt.

The first line of the poem is interrupted by a caesura, or a break within a line of verse. Wyatt’s use of caesura here establishes the rhetorical situation of the poem. The opening phrase poses a question to a hypothetical audience and presents the poem’s conceit; the following phrase sets the stage for the speaker’s personal account.

The first line of the poem is interrupted by a caesura, or a break within a line of verse. Wyatt’s use of caesura here establishes the rhetorical situation of the poem. The opening phrase poses a question to a hypothetical audience and presents the poem’s conceit; the following phrase sets the stage for the speaker’s personal account.