George Gascoigne's For That He Looked Not Upon Her

The sixteenth century English poet George Gascoigne uses elements of organization, symbolism and emphasized diction to develop his poem, “For That He Looked Not Upon Her,” in which a man is unable to look at the woman he loves. The poem is a Shakespearean sonnet, a style which often involves people falling in love or recovering from the heartbreak of love. “For That He Looked Not Upon Her” is no different, as the speaker is talking about the hurt he is has felt from love. It follows an ABAB rhyme scheme and ends with a couplet to complete his argument. By using this level of organization, the speaker gives the poem a sense of elegance, as the style remains uniform and orderly, and makes the poem easy to understand for the reader. The author mentions, paradoxically, that he “takes no delight” in looking at his love, despite the beautiful “gleams” that show on her face. As the reader continues reading the poem, they see where he mentions the situations of the mouse and the fly, which explain his reasoning for not looking at the woman he loves.

A mouse became trapped in a mouse trap when attempting to receive food but managed to escape. However, he “lies aloof for fear of more mishap” and believes that he will become trapped once again if he retrieves food again. The mouse and food can symbolize the speaker and women, for he was hurt once by a woman he loved and fears that to approach and become involved with another would lead to heartbreak; he now avoids love altogether. He also mentions a “scorched fly which once hath ‘scaped a flame” which it had been attracted to and now stays away from. This fly, which was physically damaged permanently, represents the author, as he was metaphorically hurt by the woman he loved and can never fully recover from the