by Thomas Wyatt
SIR THOMAS WYATT
(1503-1542)
Contents
The Poetry of Wyatt
BRIEF INTRODUCTION: SIR THOMAS WYATT
The Poems
LIST OF POEMS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
LIST OF POEMS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER
The Letters
THE LETTERS OF SIR THOMAS WYATT
The Oration
SIR THOMAS WYATT’S DEFENCE
The Biographies
SIR THOMAS WYATT by Sidney Lee
THE LIFE OF SIR THOMAS WYATT by Charles Cowden Clarke
© Delphi Classics 2014
Version 1
SIR THOMAS WYATT
By Delphi Classics, 2014
NOTE
When reading poetry on an eReader, it is advisable to use a small font size, which will allow the lines of poetry to display correctly.
The Poetry of Wyatt
Allington Castle, north of Maidstone, Kent — Wyatt’s birthplace
Sir Thomas Wyatt by Hans Holbein the Younger, c. 1540
BRIEF INTRODUCTION: SIR THOMAS WYATT
Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542), who is now credited with introducing the sonnet into English literature, was born at Allington Castle, near Maidstone in Kent, though his family were originally of Yorkshire origin. His mother was Anne Skinner and his father, Henry Wyatt, had been one of Henry VII’s Privy Councillors and remained a trusted adviser when Henry VIII came to the throne in 1509. In his turn, Thomas Wyatt followed his father to court after his university education at Cambridge.
Reportedly, Wyatt was over six feet tall and both handsome and physically strong. Although interested in poetry from an early age, Wyatt was to achieve more renown during his lifetime for his work as an ambassador in the service of Henry VIII. He first entered the King’s service in 1515 as “Sewer Extraordinary” and in the same year he began studying at St John’s College of the University of Cambridge. Later, Wyatt accompanied Sir John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford, to Rome to help petition Pope Clement VII to annul the marriage of Henry VIII to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, an embassy whose goal was to make Henry free to marry Anne Boleyn. In 1535 Wyatt was knighted and appointed High Sheriff of Kent for 1536.
In 1520, Wyatt married Elizabeth Brooke, (1503–1550), the daughter of Thomas Brooke, 8th Baron Cobham, and a year later they had a son: However, early in the marriage, marital difficulties arose, with Wyatt claiming these were ‘chiefly her fault’, accusing Elizabeth of being an adulteress, although there is no surviving evidence to support the truth of this claim. Elizabeth separated from Wyatt in 1526 and he supported her until 1537, when he refused to do so any longer and sent her to live with her brother, Lord Cobham. In that same year, Lord Cobham attempted to force Wyatt to continue his financial support, which the poet refused. It was not until 1541 that Wyatt, being accused of treason, was arrested and his properties confiscated, that the Brooke family was able to force a reconciliation as a condition for Wyatt’s pardon.
Many legends have persisted over time concerning the notion that the young and unhappily married Wyatt had fallen in love with Anne Boleyn in the early 1520s. It is certain that they knew each other and the nineteenth-century critic George Gilfillan argues extensively that Wyatt and Boleyn were romantically connected. In several of his verses Wyatt calls his mistress Anna and allegedly alludes to events in her life:
And now I follow the coals that be quent,
From Dover to Calais against my mind . . . .
Gilfillan claims that these lines could refer to Anne’s trip to France in 1532, immediately prior to her marriage to Henry VIII, perhaps implying that Wyatt was present, although his name is not included among those who accompanied the royal party to France. Wyatt’s sonnet “Whoso List To Hunt” may also allude to Anne’s relationship with the King:
Graven in diamonds with letters plain,
There is written her fair neck round about,
‘Noli me tangere [Do not touch me], Caesar’s, I am’.
In May 1536 Wyatt was imprisoned in the Tower of London for allegedly committing adultery with Anne Boleyn, though he was released later that year, due to his friendship with Thomas Cromwell and he returned to his duties. During his stay in the Tower, he may have witnessed not only the execution of Anne Boleyn from his cell window, but also the prior executions of the five men with whom she was accused of adultery. Wyatt is known to have written a poem inspired by the experience, which, though it avoids declaring the executions groundless, expresses grief and shock.
By 1540 Wyatt was again in royal favour, having been granted the site and many of the manorial estates of the dissolved Boxley Abbey. However, in 1541 he was charged again with treason and the charges were again lifted, though only thanks to the intervention of Henry’s fifth wife, Queen Catherine Howard, and upon the condition of reconciling with his ‘adulterous’ wife. Wyatt was granted a full pardon and restored once again to his duties as ambassador. After the execution of Catherine Howard, there were rumours that Wyatt’s wife, Elizabeth, was a possibility for Henry’s sixth wife, although she was still married to Wyatt. He became ill not long after, and died on 11 October 1542, aged 39, while staying with his friend Sir John Horsey at Clifton Maybank House in Dorset. Wyatt is buried in nearby Sherborne Abbey.
At a time when French and Italian poetry was the most highly revered form of literature, Wyatt’s professed object in writing verses was to experiment with the English tongue, to ‘civilise it’ and to raise its powers to those of its neighbours. A significant amount of Wyatt’s literary output consists of translations and imitations of sonnets by the Italian poet Petrarch, though Wyatt also composed sonnets of his own. He borrowed much subject matter from Petrarch’s sonnets, but Wyatt’s rhyme schemes make a significant departure from those of his Italian model. Petrarch’s sonnets consist of an “octave”, rhyming abba abba, followed, after a turn by a “sestet” with various rhyme schemes. Wyatt employs the Petrarchan octave, but his most common sestet scheme is cddc ee, signalling the beginnings of an exclusively English sonnet structure, that is three quatrains with a closing couplet.
In addition to imitations of works by the classical writers Seneca and Horace, Wyatt experimented in stanza forms including the rondeau, epigrams, terza rima, ottava rima songs, satires and also with monorime, triplets with refrains, quatrains with different length of line and rhyme schemes, quatrains with codas, and the French forms of douzaine and treizaine. He also introduced his contemporaries to his poulter’s measure form (Alexandrine couplets of twelve syllable iambic lines alternating with a fourteener, fourteen syllable line) and Wyatt is now widely regarded by scholars as a master of the iambic tetrameter.
Many of Wyatt’s poems deal with the trials of romantic love and the devotion of the suitor to an unavailable or cruel mistress, whilst other poems concern scathing attacks or satirical indictments of the pandering courtiers that Wyatt often met at the Tudor court. While Wyatt’s poetry reflects classical and Italian models, he was also greatly influenced by the works of Chaucer, as demonstrated by the high frequency of Chaucerian words found in Wyatt’s compositions. The Egerton Manuscript, originally an album containing Wyatt’s personal selection of his poems and translations, preserves 123 texts, partly in the poet’s hand. None of Wyatt’s poems were published during his lifetime — the first book to feature his verse, Tottel’s Miscellany of 1557, was printed a full fifteen years after the poet’s death, including 97 poems attributed to Wyatt among the 271 poems in Tottel’s Miscellany.
Wyatt was one of the earliest poets of the Renaissance that was responsible for original innovations in English poetry and, alongside Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, he introduced
the sonnet from Italy into English literature. Wyatt’s poetry demonstrates a supreme sensitive feeling and purity of diction, paving the way for the imminent genius of Spenser and Shakespeare.
Francesco Petrarca (1304–1374) was an Italian scholar and poet in Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch’s sonnets were admired and imitated throughout Europe during the Renaissance and became a model for lyrical poetry.
Anne Boleyn (c. 1501-1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of King Henry VIII.
Henry VIII (1491-1547) was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death in 1547.
Thomas Wyatt — drawing by Hans Holbein the Younger
CONTENTS
Songs and Sonnets
THE LOVER FOR SHAMEFASTNESS HIDETH HIS DESIRE WITHIN HIS FAITHFUL HEART
THE LOVER WAXETH WISER, AND WILL NOT DIE FOR AFFECTION
THE ABUSED LOVER SEETH HIS FOLLY AND INTENDETH TO TRUST NO MORE
THE LOVER DESCRIBETH HIS BEING STRICKEN WITH SIGHT OF HIS LOVE
THE WAVERING LOVER WILLETH, AND DREADETH, TO MOVE HIS DESIRE
THE LOVER HAVING DREAMED ENJOYING OF HIS LOVE, COMPLAINETH THAT THE DREAM IS NOT EITHER LONGER OR TRUER
THE LOVER UNHAPPY BIDDETH HAPPY LOVERS REJOICE IN MAY, WHILE HE WAILETH THAT MONTH TO HIM MOST UNLUCKY
THE LOVER CONFESSETH HIM IN LOVE WITH PHYLLIS
OF OTHERS’ FEIGNED SORROW, AND THE LOVER’S FEIGNED MIRTH
OF CHANGE IN MIND
HOW THE LOVER PERISHETH IN HIS DELIGHT AS THE FLY IN THE FIRE
AGAINST HIS TONGUE THAT FAILED TO UTTER HIS SUITS
DESCRIPTION OF THE CONTRARIOUS PASSIONS IN A LOVER
THE LOVER COMPARETH HIS STATE TO A SHIP IN PERILOUS STORM TOSSED ON THE SEA
OF DOUBTFUL LOVE
THE LOVER ABUSED RENOUNCETH LOVE
TO HIS LADY, CRUEL OVER HER YIELDING LOVER
HOW UNPOSSIBLE IT IS TO FIND QUIET IN LOVE
OF LOVE, FORTUNE, AND THE LOVER’S MIND
THE LOVER PRAYETH HIS OFFERED HEART TO BE RECEIVED
THE LOVER’S LIFE COMPARED TO THE ALPS
CHARGING OF HIS LOVE AS UNPITEOUS AND LOVING OTHER
THE LOVER FORSAKETH HIS UNKIND LOVE
THE LOVER DESCRIBETH HIS RESTLESS STATE
THE LOVER LAMENTS THE DEATH OF HIS LOVE
A RENOUNCING OF LOVE
THE LOVER DESPAIRING TO ATTAIN UNTO HIS LADY’S GRACE RELINQUISHETH THE PURSUIT
THE DESERTED LOVER CONSOLETH HIMSELF WITH REMEMBRANCE THAT ALL WOMEN ARE BY NATURE FICKLE
THAT HOPE UNSATISFIED IS TO THE LOVER’S HEART AS A PROLONGED DEATH
HE PRAYETH HIS LADY TO BE TRUE, FOR NO ONE CAN RESTRAIN A WILLING MIND
THE DESERTED LOVER WISHETH THAT HIS RIVAL MIGHT EXPERIENCE THE SAME FORTUNE HE HIMSELF HAD TASTED
Rondeaux
REQUEST TO CUPID FOR REVENGE OF HIS UNKIND LOVE
COMPLAINT FOR TRUE LOVE UNREQUITED
THE LOVER SENDETH SIGHS TO MOVE HIS SUIT
THE LOVER SEEKING FOR HIS LOST HEART PRAYETH THAT IT MAY BE KINDLY ENTREATED BY WHOMSOEVER FOUND
HE DETERMINETH TO CEASE TO LOVE
OF THE FOLLY OF LOVING WHEN THE SEASON OF LOVE IS PAST
THE ABUSED LOVER RESOLVETH TO FORGET HIS UNKIND MISTRESS
THE ABSENT LOVER PERSUADETH HIMSELF THAT HIS MISTRESS WILL NOT HAVE THE POWER TO FORSAKE HIM
THE RECURED LOVER RENOUNCETH HIS FICKLE MISTRESS FOR HER NEWFANGLENESS
Odes
THE LOVER COMPLAINETH THE UNKINDNESS OF HIS LOVE
THE LOVER REJOICETH THE ENJOYING OF HIS LOVE
THE LOVER SHEWETH HOW HE IS FORSAKEN OF SUCH AS HE SOMETIME ENJOYED
THE LOVER TO HIS BED, WITH DESCRIBING OF HIS UNQUIET STATE
THE LOVER COMPLAINETH THAT HIS LOVE DOTH NOT PITY HIM
THE LOVER COMPLAINETH HIMSELF FORSAKEN
A RENOUNCING OF HARDLY ESCAPED LOVE
THE LOVER TAUGHT, MISTRUSTETH ALLUREMENTS
THE LOVER REJOICETH AGAINST FORTUNE THAT BY HINDERING HIS SUIT HAD HAPPILY MADE HIM FORSAKE HIS FOLLY
THE LOVER’S SORROWFUL STATE MAKETH HIM WRITE SORROWFUL SONGS, BUT SUCH HIS LOVE MAY CHANGE THE SAME
THE LOVER SENDETH HIS COMPLAINTS AND TEARS TO SUE FOR GRACE
THE LOVER’S CASE CANNOT BE HIDDEN HOWEVER HE DISSEMBLE
THE LOVER PRAYETH NOT TO BE DISDAINED, REFUSED, MISTRUSTED, NOR FORSAKEN
THE LOVER LAMENTETH HIS ESTATE WITH SUIT FOR GRACE
THE LOVER WAILETH HIS CHANGED JOYS
TO HIS LOVE THAT HATH GIVEN HIM ANSWER OF REFUSAL
THE LOVER DESCRIBETH HIS BEING TAKEN WITH SIGHT OF HIS LOVE
THE LOVER EXCUSETH HIM OF WORDS, WHEREWITH HE WAS UNJUSTLY CHARGED
THE LOVER CURSETH THE TIME WHEN FIRST HE FELL IN LOVE
THE LOVER DETERMINETH TO SERVE FAITHFULLY
TO HIS UNKIND LOVE
THE LOVER COMPLAINETH HIS ESTATE
WHETHER LIBERTY BY LOSS OF LIFE, OR LIFE IN PRISON AND THRALDOM BE TO BE PREFERRED
HE RULETH NOT THOUGH HE REIGN OVER REALMS, THAT IS SUBJECT TO HIS OWN LUSTS
THE FAITHFUL LOVER GIVETH TO HIS MISTRESS HIS HEART AS HIS BEST AND ONLY TREASURE
A DESCRIPTION OF THE SORROW OF TRUE LOVERS’ PARTING
THE NEGLECTED LOVER CALLETH ON HIS STONY HEARTED MISTRESS TO HEAR HIM COMPLAIN ERE THAT HE DIE
HE REJOICETH THE OBTAINING THE FAVOUR OF THE MISTRESS OF HIS HEART
THE LOVER PRAYETH VENUS TO CONDUCT HIM TO THE DESIRED HAVEN
THE LOVER PRAISETH THE BEAUTY OF HIS LADY’S HAND
THAT THE EYE BEWRAYETH ALWAY THE SECRET AFFECTIONS OF THE HEART
THE LOVER COMPLAINETH THAT FAITH MAY NOT AVAIL WITHOUT THE FAVOUR OF FANTASY
THAT TOO MUCH CONFIDENCE SOMETIMES DISAPPOINTETH HOPE
THE LOVER BEMOANETH HIS UNHAPPINESS THAT HE CANNOT OBTAIN GRACE, YET CANNOT CEASE LOVING
THE MOURNFUL LOVER TO HIS HEART WITH COMPLAINT THAT IT WILL NOT BREAK
THE LOVER RENOUNCES HIS CRUEL LOVE FOR EVER
A COMPLAINT OF HIS LADY’S CRUELTY
OF THE CONTRARY AFFECTIONS OF THE LOVER
THAT RIGHT CANNOT GOVERN FANCY
THAT TRUE LOVE AVAILETH NOT WHEN FORTUNE LIST TO FROWN
THE DECEIVED LOVER SUETH ONLY FOR LIBERTY
THE LOVER CALLETH ON HIS LUTE TO HELP HIM BEMOAN HIS HAPLESS FATE
THAT THE POWER OF LOVE IS SUCH HE WORKETH IMPOSSIBILITIES
THAT THE LIFE OF THE UNREGARDED LOVER IS WORSE THAN DEATH
THE LOVER WHO CANNOT PREVAIL MUST NEEDS HAVE PATIENCE
WHEN FORTUNE SMILES NOT, ONLY PATIENCE COMFORTETH
THAT PATIENCE ALONE CAN HEAL THE WOUND INFLICTED BY ADVERSITY
THE LOVER, HOPELESS OF GREATER HAPPINESS, CONTENTETH HIMSELF WITH ONLY PITY
THAT TIME, HUMBLENESS, AND PRAYER, CAN SOFTEN EVERY THING SAVE HIS LADY’S HEART
THAT UNKINDNESS HATH SLAIN HIS POOR TRUE HEART
THE DYING LOVER COMPLAINETH THAT HIS MISTRESS REGARDETH NOT HIS SUFFERINGS
THE CAREFUL LOVER COMPLAINETH, AND THE HAPPY LOVER COUNSELLETH
THE LOVER HAVING BROKEN HIS BONDAGE, VOWETH NEVER MORE TO BE ENTHRALLED
THE ABUSED LOVER, ADMONISHES THE UNWARY TO BEWARE OF LOVE
A REPROOF TO SUCH AS SLANDER LOVE
DESPAIR COUNSELLETH THE DESERTED LOVER TO END HIS WOES BY DEATH, BUT REASON BRINGETH COMFORT
THE LOVER’S LUTE CANNOT BE BLAMED THOUGH IT SING OF HIS LADY’S UNKINDNESS
THE NEGLECTED LOVER CALLETH ON HIS PEN TO RECORD THE UNGENTLE BEHAVIOUR OF HIS UNKIND MISTRESS
THAT CAUTION SHOULD BE USED IN LOVE
AN EARNEST REQUEST TO HIS CRUEL MISTRESS EITHER TO PITY HIM OR LET HIM DIE
THE ABUSED LOVER REPROACHETH HIS FALSE MISTRESS OF DISSIMULATION
HE BEWAILS HIS HARD FATE THAT THOUGH BELOVED OF HIS MISTRESS HE STILL LIVES IN PAIN
A COMPLAINT OF THE FALSENESS OF LOVE
THE LOVER SUETH THAT HIS SERVICE MAY BE ACCEPTED
OF THE PA
INS AND SORROWS CAUSED BY LOVE
THE LOVER RECOUNTETH THE VARIABLE FANCY OF HIS FICKLE MISTRESS
THE ABUSED LOVER BEWAILS THE TIME THAT EVER HIS EYE BEHELD HER TO WHOM HE HAD GIVEN HIS FAITHFUL HEART
AN EARNEST SUIT TO HIS UNKIND MISTRESS NOT TO FORSAKE HIM
HE REMEMBERETH THE PROMISE HIS LADY ONCE GAVE HIM OF AFFECTION, AND COMFORTETH HIMSELF WITH HOPE
THAT ALL HIS JOY DEPENDETH ON HIS LADY’S FAVOUR
HE PROMISETH TO REMAIN FAITHFUL WHATEVER FORTUNE BETIDE
THE FAITHFUL LOVER WISHETH ALL EVIL MAY BEFALL HIM IF HE FORSAKE HIS LADY
OF FORTUNE, LOVE, AND FANTASY
DESERTED BY HIS MISTRESS, HE RENOUNCETH ALL JOY FOR EVER
THAT NO WORDS MAY EXPRESS THE CRAFTY TRAINS OF LOVE
THAT THE POWER OF LOVE EXCUSETH THE FOLLY OF LOVING
THE DOUBTFUL LOVER RESOLVETH TO BE ASSURED WHETHER HE IS TO LIVE IN JOY OR WOE
OF THE EXTREME TORMENT ENDURED BY THE UNHAPPY LOVER
HE BIDDETH FAREWELL TO HIS UNKIND MISTRESS
HE REPENTETH THAT HE HAD EVER LOVED
THE LOVER BESEECHETH HIS MISTRESS NOT TO FORGET HIS STEADFAST FAITH AND TRUE INTENT
HE BEWAILS THE PAIN HE ENDURES WHEN BANISHED FROM THE MISTRESS OF HIS HEART
HE COMPARES HIS SUFFERINGS TO THOSE OF TANTALUS
THAT NOTHING MAY ASSUAGE HIS PAIN SAVE ONLY HIS LADY’S FAVOUR
THE LOVER PRAYETH THAT HIS LONG SUFFERINGS MAY AT LENGTH FIND RECOMPENSE
HE DESCRIBETH THE CEASELESS TORMENTS OF LOVE
THAT THE SEASON OF ENJOYMENT IS SHORT, AND SHOULD NOT PASS BY NEGLECTED
THAT THE PAIN HE ENDURED SHOULD NOT MAKE HIM CEASE FROM LOVING
THE COMPLAINT OF A DESERTED LOVER
THAT FAITH IS DEAD, AND TRUE LOVE DISREGARDED