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
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Such vain thought as wonted to mislead me | 29 November 2013 |
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Now must I learn to feign | 29 November 2013 |
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Betrayal | 29 November 2013 |
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To whom should I sue to ease my pain? | 29 November 2013 |
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To make an end of all this strife | 29 November 2013 |
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Defamed guiltiness by silence unkempt | 29 November 2013 |
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Ye know my heart, my lady dear | 29 November 2013 |
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The Flaming sighs that boil within my breast | 29 November 2013 |
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Suffering in sorrow, in hope to attain | 29 November 2013 |
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Dido am I, the founder first of Carthage | 29 November 2013 |
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