Courtship as negotiation in Tudor poetry

Wyatt wrote this poem in the 1530s-40s at Henry VIII's court, where every interaction carried political weight. This poem isn't just flirtation—it's a formal petition disguised as a love complaint. The speaker steals a kiss (transgression), then immediately apologizes and asks for punishment (submission). But the 'punishment' he requests is another kiss, which would kill him. He's using the language of courtly deference to actually seduce.

CONTEXT Wyatt was imprisoned multiple times at court and knew the stakes of appearing too forward. This poem performs the correct courtly move—admitting fault, asking forgiveness—while simultaneously making the request for more intimacy. The legal language ('offended,' 'amended') mimics the formality required in court petitions, making the seduction feel like obedience.

The heart as transferable object

Lines 7-8 use a literal anatomy of love that sounds strange to modern ears. The first kiss 'sucks' his heart into her mouth; the second will 'pluck' it from his breast and (implicitly) into her. This isn't sentiment—it's a description of physical exchange. Wyatt inherited this from medieval love poetry, where the lover's heart literally enters the beloved's body through intimacy.

Notice the violence of the verbs: 'suck' and 'pluck' aren't gentle. The poem frames kisses as acts of extraction, turning the woman into an agent who removes his life. By calling this 'revenge,' he makes her the aggressor while he remains the willing victim. This grammatical trick lets him desire his own destruction and credit her for it.

Thomas Wyatt

Alas Madam for Stealing of a Kiss

Alas, madam, for stealing of a kiss

Legal language: 'offended'

Wyatt uses courtroom diction—'offended,' 'amiss,' 'amended.' He's treating a stolen kiss as a crime requiring legal redress, which lets him frame the poem as a formal apology while actually making it seductive.

Have I so much your mind there offended?

Have I then done so grievously amiss

That by no means it may be amended?

Then revenge you, and the next way is this:

Revenge as seduction

The 'revenge' he proposes (another kiss) will kill him. He's reframing her punishment as his voluntary death—a paradox that makes submission look like desire. This is the poem's rhetorical trap.

Revenge as seduction

The 'revenge' he proposes (another kiss) will kill him. He's reframing her punishment as his voluntary death—a paradox that makes submission look like desire. This is the poem's rhetorical trap.

Another kiss shall have my life ended,

For to my mouth the first my heart did suck;

Heart as physical object

In lines 7-8, the heart isn't metaphorical—it's something that can be 'sucked' out and 'plucked.' This medical/anatomical language was common in Wyatt's time for describing love as literal bodily extraction, not just emotion.

Heart as physical object

The next shall clean out of my breast it pluck.

Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation