“Baby, I’m preying on you tonight
Hunt you down, eat you alive
Just like animals, animals, like animals” (Animals by Maroon 5)

The lyric implies the dominance of the lover over the woman. The Elizabethan poem “Like as a Huntsman” by Edmund Spenser also suggests the same power dynamic between the speaker and the woman by comparing the woman to a deer. We will explore the inherent power dynamic in the sonnet in the post.

So, let us start our discussion with the summary of the sonnet

Sonnet 67 | Like as a Huntsman Summary

“Amoretti LXVII: Like as a Huntsman” by Edmund Spenser is a sonnet from the sequences of 89 sonnets named Amoretti. The poem opens with a simile that compares the pursuit of the speaker’s beloved to a huntsman chasing his prey.

The hunter is tired of chasing the deer for a long and rests with his panting hounds in a shady place. Just as the hunter is about to give up on his quest for love, something unexpected happens; he sees the deer returning to the brook to satisfy her thirst. 

The deer looks affectionately at the huntsman and shows no fear, allowing him to come close to her. The hunter holds her close and is amazed at the wild beast’s readiness to be tamed.

Summary Video

For summary video ,

👉 Watch the video on our YouTube channel.

We will analyze the poem line by line and discuss its tone, structure, and theme in this section.

Like as a huntsman after weary chase,
Seeing the game from him escap’d away,
Sits down to rest him in some shady place,
With panting hounds beguiled of their prey:

Modern Version:
Like a hunter after a long chase,
Seeing the game has escaped,
He sits down to rest in a shady place,
With his panting hounds, deceived by their prey.

The speaker compares himself to a hunter and his beloved to a deer. The hunter intensely chases his game in the forest. However, his hope soon fades when he fails the deer goes out of his sight. The animal runs with all its might after noticing his presence.

The long chase makes the hunter fatigue. Consequently, he takes a rest in a shady place. His hounds are also panting out of tiredness after getting deceived by their prey.

Similarly, the speaker has been pursuing his beloved for a considerable period hoping to win her heart. However, he feels tired after missing each opportunity to get closer to her. Everything seems to go against him.

Like the tired huntsman, the speaker also takes a break after his failure. The hounds are the metaphors of dear ones who support him in his pursuit. They also feel disappointed when things do not work out.

The Speaker’s Desire to Control the Woman

The simile of a strong hunter chasing comparatively weak prey implies a power dynamic between the speaker and the woman. There are other sonnets in Amoretti where he indicates his desire to reverse the power dynamic.

For instance, in “Amoretti: Sonnet 10”, the speaker prays to the Lord of love to bring down the pride and arrogance of the woman. He likes to laugh at her misfortune just as she laughs at him, implying a desire to shift power from her to him.

In “Amoretti: Sonnet 14“, the speaker expresses his desire to lay continuous attacks on her heart, which could indicate his desire to dominate her.

A patriarchal society ingrains in men the traditional gender role that they should be the dominant figure in their relationships with women. The speaker is anxious when he realizes his beloved is more powerful than him, and her power is threatening his expected role.

His repressed desire and anxiety have influenced his thoughts and behavior. So, the lovelorn speaker employs the simile of a triumphant hunter in Sonnets 65-67 of Amoretti to suggest the desire to control the woman.

In “Amoretti: Sonnet 71“, the speaker compares himself to a spider and waits to catch the beloved, a bee. While there is a change in his approach, there is still the desire for control to capture the woman in the poem.

However, it is worth mentioning that he wants to surrender his heart to the woman he loves in the following poem, “Amoretti: Sonnet 73“. Therefore, there seems to be a change in his attitude toward her. Yet, the sonnet does not explicitly reflect the idea of mutual respect and equality in the relationship, suggesting his limited perspective concerning a relationship.

So after long pursuit and vain assay,
When I all weary had the chase forsook,
The gentle deer return’d the self-same way,
Thinking to quench her thirst at the next brook.

Modern Version:
So after a long pursuit and vain attempts,
When I was all weary and had given up the chase,
The gentle deer returned the same way,
Thinking to quench her thirst at the next brook.

The first two lines express the physical and mental exhaustion of the speaker. The repetition of the word “weary” in the first and sixth lines emphasizes the exhaustion of the lover. Like the hunter, the speaker feels tired and demotivated after the long fruitless attempts. He reaches a point where he cannot continue his motivation to pursue love alive.

At this point, we can relate his feeling of disappointment to the tiring state of the speaker in “Amoretti LVII: Sweet Warrior”. In both sonnets, the speaker feels frustrated because of his unrequited love. He mentally breaks down and gives up his dream when the woman seems out of reach.

While the hunter gives up chasing the deer, he surprisingly encounters the deer. Similarly, when the lover abandons the idea of winning her heart, he sees a glimpse of hope.

There she beholding me with milder look,
Sought not to fly, but fearless still did bide:
Till I in hand her yet half trembling took,
And with her own goodwill her firmly tied.

Modern Version:
There she, seeing me with a milder look,
Did not try to fly, but fearlessly stayed:
Until I took her in my hands, still trembling,
And with her goodwill tied her firmly.

These lines express the reaction of the deer after seeing the hunter again.

It is the volta in the sonnet. The volta appears when a dramatic change of attitude of the woman towards the speaker. It reflects his newfound sense of hope that she will reciprocate his affection. The predominant sad tone in the octave changes to a hopeful one in the sestet.

The deer does not come to the hunter willingly. When the deer comes to the brook to quench her thirst, she stumbles upon him by chance. Nevertheless, after seeing him, the deer is not panic and runs away at the sight of the hunter. Instead, she appears to welcome him.

The changing behavior of the deer from a fearful to a mild look toward the hunter is apparent. They come close to each other. He takes the deer in his hand. Though she shivers, she lets him hold her firmly.

Why has the woman accepted him?

Similar to the deer, it would be inaccurate to assume that the woman goes to the speaker willingly; instead, her necessity drives her toward him. The primary need for water leads the deer to the brook, where she encounters the speaker. Likewise, her desire or the requisite norm to get married leads the woman to the speaker.

The need for love and emotional support or the societal expectation to get married may lead the woman to the speaker. The woman may have been feeling isolated, and she may have turned to the hunter for companionship.

Moreover, we can refer to “Amoretti: Sonnet 58” for another possible explanation. If we consider the woman as the intended listener of the poem, the speaker might have meant that she cannot exercise her power and dependency for her entire life. She has to finally marry someone since Elizabethan society does not view a single woman favorably.

Considering this, we can state the woman may have also felt pressured to get married and settle down by her family, friends, or society. She has no choice but to submit to him. Perhaps, this is why the woman who has been avoiding him and is persistent in her rejections is not as resistant as she was earlier.

The milder look indicates she is comfortable with him and ready to start a relationship with the speaker, which seems impossible in the past. Though the woman shows a gesture of consent, she is still uncertain regarding the relationship. This uncertainty is reasonable because she is also afraid of the new. 

Though she is not fully confident in her decision to be in a relationship, she lets him come close to her. She consciously chooses to be with the speaker. This line emphasizes the willingness of the woman to be in the relationship. 

Strange thing, me seem’d, to see a beast so wild,
So goodly won, with her own will beguil’d.

Modern Version:
Strange thing, it seemed to me, to see a beast so wild,
So beautifully won, with her own will deceived.

The huntsman is surprised that an untamed and beautiful deer willingly submits herself to the huntsman. Instead of running away, the animal lets him capture. It is unusual for a wild animal to act in a compliant manner. The huntsman thinks he has achieved victory in capturing the deer. Her willingness to be with him allows him to dominate her.

It suggests the turn of events astonishes the speaker because he thinks it is hard to win the woman. He is delighted at the prospect of the new relationship. By agreeing to be with him, the woman unwittingly puts herself in a position to be dominated by him. She may have deceived herself into thinking that she can trust him.

It is deceptive because he intends to control her, and we have discussed it above. However, the reinforcement of patriarchal dominance in “Amoretti: Sonnet 67” is subtle. 

Hegemonic Masculinity

Instead of imposing patriarchal dominance directly over women like Katharine in Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew” where her worth is reduced to that of a small mouse-like mammal in front of Petruchio, the sonnet does not reinforce patriarchal dominance in the same direct manner.

The speaker does not compare the woman to a tiny and powerless animal, but the deer is an untamable beast.

In “Amoretti: Sonnet 67”, the speaker compares the woman in Amoretti: 10, 20, 47, 53, and 49 to a powerful savage beast while he is a weak, innocent, and helpless victim of her cruelty. In “Amoretti: Sonnet 20“, the speaker compares her to a lion who takes pleasure in being ruthless and delights in staining herself with innocent blood. He describes her as a wild beast in “Amoretti: Sonnet 67”. 

He uses the victimization approach to justify his desire to dominate the woman. By presenting himself as weak initially, he positions himself as a victim and sets up a power dynamic in which he can later assert his dominance over her. We can see such behavior as an attempt to conform to hegemonic masculinity, which advocates the idea that women should be in control of men. 

Tone

The melancholic tone of the speaker predominates in the octave as it describes the depressing state after a failed hunt. The somber tone continues till the sixth line, expressing the frustration of losing the animal. The tone of disappointment changes to hopefulness when the speaker encounters the gentle deer, who returns to him.

The tone becomes even slightly triumphant as the speaker successfully captures the deer, but there is also a sense of wonder at the unexpected turn of events.

Structure

The poem is a traditional Petarchan sonnet that has 14 lines and has a rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg. We can divide the poem into two parts: octave and sestet. The octave primarily informs the problem of the huntsman, which is unable to catch the deer.

The approach of the deer to the hunter and his capturing of the animal, at last, provides the resolution in the sestet.

Theme

The poem also explores the theme of desire. It is a love poem. His passion for her drives the speaker longs for his beloved. It is the desire that makes him pursue her. Due to the same desire, he feels hurt when his expectation does not meet.

The deer metaphorically symbolizes the woman the speaker loves. The metaphorical comparison of the deer to the woman conveys the idea of power and control. His desire to capture the deer reflects his desire to control his relationship with the woman. We have discussed it above.

“Amoretti: Sonnet 67” varies from Petrarchan sonnet by projecting the woman as attainable who comes close to the speaker rather than avoiding him like Petrarch’s doe. In Petrarch’s “Sonnet 190”, a beautiful white doe with golden horns in the shade of a laurel between two rivers captivates the speaker. He goes after her, leaving behind all other tasks. He continues pursuing her until he falls into the water, and the doe disappears.

In Spenser’s sonnet, the thirst of the deer leads her to the brook, where she meets the hunter. The return of the deer to quench her thirst is a subtle way of representing the desire or requisite norm of the woman. It leads her to the speaker. We have already discussed what that could be.

It is important to note that Spenser wrote the poem in the 16th century, and the mindset towards women differs from the present day. Therefore, it is possible that the attitude of the speaker toward the woman is a reflection of the era in which he lived.

Key Takeaways from the Post

1. His desire to control the woman.
2. Why does the woman accept him?
3. The speaker implies hegemonic masculinity through the reversal of power. 

References

1. Aguilar, Sydne. “Courtship and Marriage in Elizabethan England.” Shakespeare Comes Alive!, https://shakespearecomesalivesdsufall2017.wordpress.com/1-group-themes/. Accessed 18 Mar. 2023.
2. Matějková, Julie. Femininity in Edmund Spenser’s Amoretti. 2018. Univerzita Karlova, B.A. thesis.