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    Sir Thomas Wyatt and The Sonnet

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    Ilenia Augusta
    Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542) was an English ambassador, poet and innovator of the English sonnet who served King Henry VIII. He introduced the Petrarchan sonnet from Italy and experimented with different rhyme schemes. Wyatt was rumored to have had an affair with Anne Boleyn in the 1520s and was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1536 on charges of adultery with her, though he was later released. His poetry reflects his experiences at court and attractions to unavailable women, helping establish conventions in love poetry. Wyatt helped introduce the sonnet form to English literature.

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    Sir Thomas Wyatt and The Sonnet

    Uploaded by

    Ilenia Augusta
    63 views8 pages
    Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542) was an English ambassador, poet and innovator of the English sonnet who served King Henry VIII. He introduced the Petrarchan sonnet from Italy and experimented with different rhyme schemes. Wyatt was rumored to have had an affair with Anne Boleyn in the 1520s and was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1536 on charges of adultery with her, though he was later released. His poetry reflects his experiences at court and attractions to unavailable women, helping establish conventions in love poetry. Wyatt helped introduce the sonnet form to English literature.

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    Life and works of one of the most important english listerature exponents.

    Original Title

    J.Wyatt

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    Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542) was an English ambassador, poet and innovator of the English sonnet who served King Henry VIII. He introduced the Petrarchan sonnet from Italy and experimented with different rhyme schemes. Wyatt was rumored to have had an affair with Anne Boleyn in the 1520s and was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1536 on charges of adultery with her, though he was later released. His poetry reflects his experiences at court and attractions to unavailable women, helping establish conventions in love poetry. Wyatt helped introduce the sonnet form to English literature.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    63 views8 pages

    Sir Thomas Wyatt and The Sonnet

    Uploaded by

    Ilenia Augusta
    Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542) was an English ambassador, poet and innovator of the English sonnet who served King Henry VIII. He introduced the Petrarchan sonnet from Italy and experimented with different rhyme schemes. Wyatt was rumored to have had an affair with Anne Boleyn in the 1520s and was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1536 on charges of adultery with her, though he was later released. His poetry reflects his experiences at court and attractions to unavailable women, helping establish conventions in love poetry. Wyatt helped introduce the sonnet form to English literature.

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    Sir Thomas Wyatt and the

    sonnet

    Wyatts life
    born 1503
    ambassador and poet (like Chaucer, who he admired greatly)
    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. Thomas Wyatt followed his
    father to court after education at St John's College,
    Cambridge.
    part of diplomatic mission to Rome (1527) to petition Pope
    Clement VII to annul the marriage of Henry VIII to his first
    wife, Catherine of Aragon, to make Henry free to marry Anne
    Boleyn
    in 1535 knighted and appointed High Sheriff of Kent for
    1536.
    Died 11 October 1542

    1501-1536

    1491-1547

    Anne Boleyn
    Many rumours that the young Wyatt, unhappily
    married (Elizabeth Brooke) fell in love with the young
    Anne Boleyn in the early-to-mid 1520s. However,
    truth remains unknown. In his poetry, Thomas calls
    his mistress Anna, and often includes pieces of
    information that correspond with her life in his
    poetry.
    For example, referring to a woman, "Graven in
    diamonds with letters plain, There is written her fair
    neck round about, Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I
    am;"
    This shows Wyatt's obvious attraction to a royal lady.
    According to Wyatt's grandson, after an argument
    over her with the King, Wyatt was sent on a
    diplomatic mission to Italy.

    charges of adultery
    In May 1536 Wyatt was imprisoned in the Tower
    of London for allegedly committing adultery
    with Anne Boleyn.
    He was released from the Tower later that year,
    thanks to his father's 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 (May 19, 1536) from his cell window but
    also the executions of the five men with whom
    she was accused of adultery.
    Wyatt wrote a poem inspired by the experience
    (Who list his wealth and ease retain), in which
    he expresses grief and shock (These bloody
    days have broken my heart).

    Wyatts poetry

    First English Renaissance poet


    Translated many sonnets by Petrarch. With Henry Howard,
    Earl of Surrey, introduced sonnet from Italy into England.
    Experimented with different stanza forms with different
    length of line and rhyme schemes.
    Poetry reflects classical and Italian models, but also
    admired Chaucer and his vocabulary reflects this (e.g. his
    use of Chaucers word newfangleness in They flee from me
    ).
    Many poems deal with the trials of romantic love, and
    devotion of the poet to an unavailable or cruel mistress.
    Other poems criticise the hypocrisies and pandering
    required of courtiers ambitious to advance at the Tudor
    court.
    His poems display great tenderness and directness.
    One of the originators of the convention in love poetry
    whereby the mistress is seen as hard-hearted and cruel.

    sonnet
    Petrarchan
    Octaveand sestet:
    a-b-b-a, a-b-b-a, c-d-e-c-d-e
    English, Shakespearean
    Three quatrains and final rhyming couplet:
    a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g.
    Spenserian
    Three quatrains and final rhyming couplet:
    abab, bcbc, cdcd, ee.

    structure and discourse


    Variations in rhyme scheme existed,
    but basic division
    (Petrarchan/Shakespearen)
    fundamental to structure of discourse
    Turning point (volta)
    Line 9 in Petrarchan sonnet
    Line 13 in Shakespearean sonnet

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