The Lyrics of Henry VIII/A robyn gentyl robyn, Cornish (Wyatt)

[ff. 53v-54r]

A robyn gentyl robyn tel me how thy lemman doth and thow shal know of myne

my lady is vnkynde I wis alac why is she so                                      5 she louyth another better than me and yet she will say no

I can not thynk such doubylnes for I fynd women trew In faith my lady lovith me well                   10 she will change for no new

Cornysh

Textual Commentary
“A robyn gentyl robyn” is a stylized debate on the constancy of female love, with the praise of women’s constancy in love being that of the robin (ll. 8–11). For a similar situation, see Thomas Feylde’s Cotrauerse Bytwene a Louer and a Iaye. Alterations to this debate, and the sentiments presented within, are found in Wyatt’s later handlings of the lyric (as noted below in the section dealing with Substantive Variants).


 * 2   lemman  Paramour, lover, loved one of the opposite sex (MED 1).


 * 4   vnkynde   Not treating him with kindness; alternatively, not keeping with the law of “kind,” or nature.  For a telling view of the applications of this word, roughly contemporary to the lyrics of H, see its use in l. 20 of Wyatt’s “They flee from me” (LDev ff. 69v–70v; LEge f. 26v; Tottel’s Miscellany E4r) as handled by Tottel, who alters the more ambigous  and potentially ironic “kindly” to read “vnkyndly.”     wis know, think.


 * 11 she will change for no new   Cf. “Iff I had wytt for to endyght” (H 24.11).

The first stanza, the burden, is through-set for three voices; the second voice for the first stanza runs directly from the first voice, with no large initial or division of any kind. As well, the second stanza runs in the same manner from the third voice of the first; the second and third stanzas appear in only one voice. “A robyn gentyl robyn” is likely based on a popular song, perhaps a tune well known in the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries (Stevens M&P 111, 405). Wyatt’s poem is conjectured to be a later handling of this lyric song (see Stevens M&P 111 and 405, Ringler MS TM84 and TM 85, Robbins Index & Suppl. 13.8, as well as other Wyatt scholarship). This conjecture is discussed, with a facsimile, in Mumford’s “Musical Settings to the Poems of Sir Thomas Wyatt.” Should the date of H be post–1522, however, it is not improbable that Wyatt, then at court and participating in court festivities, could have written the text set by Cornish. The lyric also appears as one of the songs in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, 4.2.72–79 (f. ll. 2057–64), interspersed as dialogue between Feste and Malvolio. Feste’s recanting of the lyric is as follows, separated from Malvoio’s interjections:

Hey Robin, iolly Robin, tell me how thy Lady / does. My Lady is vnkind, perdie. Alas why is she so? She loues another.

See also Gooch and Thatcher’s Shakespeare Music Catalogue numbers 16,697, 16,965, 17,217, and 17,679–86.

“A robyn gentyl robyn” is indexed in Robbins Index & Suppl. 13.8, Boffey, and Ringler MS TM84. It is reprinted in Foxwell 1.106, Padelford 10, Tillyard 90, Flügel Anglia 272, 241–42, Flügel Neuengl 23, Reese 770, Stevens M&P 111, 405, and Stevens MCH8 38–39; see also the citation to Gooch and Thatcher, above.

Texts Collated
H1,2,3 (ff. 53v–54r, ll. 1–3 H2,3), LDev(1) (f. 22v, ll. 1–7), LDev(2) (f. 24r), LEge (f. 37v).


 * 1   A] Hey LDev(1), LDev(2);    gentyl]  Ioly LDev(2), / Ioly LEge


 * 2   tel me how] substitute gentyl H2;    lemman]  lady LDev(1), LDev(2)


 * 4   I wis] perdye LDev(1), perdy LDev(2), perde LEge


 * 5   alac] a llas LDev(1),  alas LDev(2)


 * 6   me] I LDev(1), LDev(2)


 * 8   can not thynk] fynd no LDev(2), fynde no LEge    The heading Response appears above this stanza in LEge


 * 9   for I] I LEge


 * 10 In faith] omit  LDev(2), LEge;    well] dowtles LDev(2), LEge


 * 11 she] and LDev(2), LEge


 * 11 ff. Both LDev(2) and LEge contain additional verses, with ll. 12–15 having correspondence, they are as follows:


 * Those art happy yf ytt doth last
 * bot I say as I fynd
 * that wommens lou ys but ablast
 * and tornyth as the wynd


 * Yf that be trew yett as thou sayst
 * that wommen turn their hart
 * then spek better of them thou mayst
 * Iy hop to hau thy partt           LDev(2)


 * le plaintif
 * Thou art happy while that doeth last
 * but I say as I fynde
 * that womens love is but a blast
 * and tornith like the wynde


 * Response
 * Suche folke shall take no harme by love
 * that can abide their torn
 * but I alas can no way prove
 * in love but lake and morn


 * le plaintif
 * But if thou will avoyde thy harme
 * lerne this lessen of me
 * at other fieres thy self to warme
 * and let them warme with the      LEge