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Thomas Wyatt was born at Allington Castle in Kent, and educated at St John's College, Cambridge. While travelling as a diplomat for Henry VIII he developed his interest in Continental poetry; he was the first English poet to use the Italian forms of the sonnet and terza rima, and the French rondeau. His translation of the Penitential Psalms is based on a version by the Italian poet Pietro Aretino.
In the course of his career Wyatt served his King Henry in a variety of offices, including those of Marshal of Calais, Sheriff of Kent and Ambassador to Spain, and he was also jailed several times. His first imprisonment, in 1534, was for brawling; two years later his relationship with the disgraced Anne Boleyn resulted in a short spell in the Tower of London. Thomas and Anne had been lovers before her marriage to Henry, and his sense of loss at their separation forms the subject of the famous sonnet 'Whoso List To Hunt'.
Wyatt was restored to favour and knighted in 1537, and spent the next two years on his embassy to the court of Charles V of Spain. In 1540 however, his trusted patron Thomas Cromwell was executed, leaving him without an ally at court. The following year Wyatt was accused of treason by his enemies and imprisoned in the Tower once more. He managed to secure his own release but died of a fever soon afterwards.
Poems by this Poet
Poem |
Post date![]() |
Rating | Comments |
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Stand who so list upon the slipper top | 29 November 2013 |
No votes yet |
0 |
The Knot which first my heart did strain | 29 November 2013 |
No votes yet |
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I know not where my heavy sighs to hide | 29 November 2013 |
No votes yet |
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Pain of all pain, the most grievous pain | 29 November 2013 |
No votes yet |
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The Lover Showeth How He Is Forsaken of Such as He Sometime Enjoyed | 29 November 2013 |
(14 votes) |
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Since that my language without eloquence | 29 November 2013 |
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Translation from Petrarch | 29 November 2013 |
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The Enemy of life, decayer of all kind | 29 November 2013 |
(1 vote) |
0 |
My heart I gave thee not to do it pain | 29 November 2013 |
(11 votes) |
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Since love is such that, as ye wot | 29 November 2013 |
No votes yet |
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