THE STORY of

SIR THOMAS WYATT

• Lived from 1503-1542

• Similar life to Chaucer

• Translated and adapted hundreds of Petrarch’s works into English

• Effectively created the English sonnet

• Among the first to portray love as cruel

English shall be as awesome as

my beard!

Wyatt started by translating Petrarch’s works. Here’s an example (Sonnet 140):

The long love that in my heart doth harborAnd in mine heart doth keep his residence Into my face presseth with bold pretenseAnd there campeth, displaying his banner

She that me learneth to love and to suffer And wills that my trust and lust's negligenceBe reined by reason, shame, and reverenceWith his hardiness taketh displeasure

Wherewith love to the heart's forest he fleethLeaving his enterprise with pain and cryAnd there him hideth and not appearethWhat may I do when my master fearethBut in the field with him to live and die?For good is the life ending faithfully

Sonnets traditionally follow this structure:

• Two quatrains with similar rhyme scheme, commonly ABBA ABBA

• A sestet with a different rhyme scheme. Petrarch used CDCCDC primarily.

• The sestet may have a “volta” or turn, which is a change in tone

Now look at one of Wyatts original works: can you see the difference?

Farewell, love, and all thy laws foreverThy baited hooks shall tangle me no moreSeneca and Plato call me from thy loreTo perfect wealth, my wit for to endeavor

In blind error when I did persevereThy sharp repulse that pricketh aye so soreTaught me in trifles that I set no storeBut scape forth, since liberty is lever

Therefore, farewell, go trouble younger heartsAnd in me claim no more authorityWith idle youth go use thy propertyAnd thereon spend thy many brittle dartsFor hitherto though I have lost my timeMe list no longer rotten boughs to climb.

• The sestet is now really a 3rd quatrain and final couplet

• The couplet uses iambic pentameter -> Shakespeare

Eventually Henry wanted a son, and Anne wasn’t getting it done.

• He imprisoned several men and Anne under charges of Adultery

• Wyatt was put in the Tower of London

• King Henry executed Anne and the other men, letting Wyatt watch from the tower.

Wyatt probably watched Anne’s execution in the courtyard from here. This is where he would write most of his poetry.