SIR THOMAS WYATT (1503?-1542)

Wyatt was preeminently a courtier. Well educated at Cambridge, and, possibly, also at Oxford, he began his career at court in several offices connected with the person of the king, from which he advanced speedily to diplomatic services, during the period 1525-1540, in France, Italy, Spain, and Flanders. In 1536, Wyatt was knighted, and in 1542, he represented Kent in parliament. A vigorous tradition persists that Wyatt was attached to the English court not only through his official appointments, but also, indirectly, as the youthful lover of Anne Boleyn.

Well-read in Italian, French, and classical literature, Wyatt deliberately formed his style by imitating Italian and French models. He is conspicuous in the history of English literature chiefly from the fact that he introduced into English the sonnet form, with its refining influence upon English meter and diction. Several of Wyatt's sonnets are direct translations from Petrarch, upon whom, throughout, he drew largely for his rime-scheme, his vocabulary, and his conventional ideas. Besides sonnets, Wyatt wrote other lyrics, epigrams, satires, and devotional verse. In his lyrics other than sonnets, is found his finest work. A collection of Wyatt's poems was printed in Songs and Sonnets written by the right honorable Lord Henry Howard, late Earl of Surrey, and others, published by Richard Tottel in 1557, and commonly known as Tottel's Miscellany.

THE LOVER FOR SHAME-FASTNESS
HIDETH HIS DESIRE WITHIN HIS
FAITHFUL HEART

The long love that in my thought I harbor,
And in my heart doth keep his residence,
Into my face presseth with bold pretence,
And there campeth displaying his banner.
She that me learns to love and to suffer, 5
And wills that my trust, and lust's negli-
gence

Be reined by reason, shame, and reverence,
With his hardiness takes displeasure.
Wherewith love to the heart's forest he
fleeth,

Leaving his enterprise with pain and cry, 10
And there him hideth, and not appeareth.
What may I do, when my master feareth?
But in the field with him to live and die?
For good is the life, ending faithfully.

THE LOVER COMPARETH HIS STATE
TO A SHIP IN PERILOUS STORM
TOSSED ON THE SEA

My galley charged with forgetfulness
Thorough sharp seas, in winter nights doth

pass,

'Tween rock and rock; and eke my foe, alas, That is my lord, steereth with cruelness,

Painless was th' one, the other in delight. 10 AN EARNEST SUIT TO HIS UNKIND
Why then, alas! did it not keep it right,
But thus return to leap into the fire,