Product Description

As a diplomat in Renaissance Europe, and a luminary at the court of Henry VII, Sir Thomas Wyatt wrote in an incestuous world where everyone was uneasily subject to the royal whims and rages. Wyatt had himself survived two imprisonments in the Tower as well as a love affair with Anne Boleyn, and his poetry - that of an extraordinarily sophisticated, passionate and vulnerable man - reflects these experiences, making disguised reference to current political events. Above all, though, Wyatt is known for his love poetry, which often dramatizes incidents and remembered conversations with his beloved, with an ear acutely sensitive to patterns of rhythm and colloquial speech. Conveying the actuality of betrayal or absence, and the intense pressure of his longing for a love that could be trusted, these are some of the most haunting poems in the English language.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23427 in Books
• Published on: 1988-11-24
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 560 pages

Customer Reviews

Haunting love poetry
Sir Thomas Wyatt grew up at the court of Henry VIII and allegedly fell in love with Anne Boleyn. A diplomat, an ambassador to the Italian and French courts, he was sophisticated, wordly and ambitious - and yet his poetry paints a very different picture of a man vulnerable, divided and suffering.

I disagree with the Penguin blurb that this is autobiographical verse, as I think Wyatt is far more sophisticated a writer than that. But whether it reflects his real-life emotions or not, his poetry contains a haunting quality of anguished rawness that makes him suprisingly modern.

Rebholz's edition is modernised in terms of spelling and punctuation but is still recognised as one of the most reliable scholarly texts. Helpfully he divides the poems attributed to Wyatt during his lifetime from those attributed to him afterwards, and has extensive notes on sources, glossary etc.

Not a cheap book for a Penguin, but well worth the price.