• 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
Wyatt started by translating Petrarch’s
works. Here’s an example (Sonnet 140):
Farewell,
The longlove,
love and
thatall
in thy
my laws
heartforever
doth harbor
Sonnets traditionally follow this
Thy
baited
hooks
shall
tangle
me
no
more
And in mine heart doth keep his residence
English shall
be
structure:
Seneca
and
Plato
call mewith
from
thypretense
lore
Into my
face
presseth
bold
as awesome as
ToAnd
perfect
wealth,
my
wit
for
to
endeavor
• Two quatrains with similar rhyme
there campeth, displaying his banner
my beard!
scheme, commonly ABBA ABBA
InShe
blind
error
I didtopersevere
that
me when
learneth
love and to suffer
• A sestet with a different rhyme
Thy
sharp
ayenegligence
so sore
And
willsrepulse
that mythat
trustpricketh
and lust's
scheme. Petrarch used CDCCDC
Taught
me
in
trifles
that
I
set
no
store
Be reined by reason, shame, and reverence
primarily.
But
scape
sincetaketh
libertydispleasure
is lever
With
his forth,
hardiness
• The sestet may have a “volta” or
turn, which is a change in tone
Therefore,
farewell,
Wherewith
love to go
thetrouble
heart'syounger
forest hehearts
fleeth
And
in mehis
claim
no more
authority
Leaving
enterprise
with
pain and cry
Now look at one of Wyatts original
With
youth
use thy
works: can you see the difference?
Andidle
there
him go
hideth
andproperty
not appeareth
And
thereon
thymy
many
brittle
darts
What
may I spend
do when
master
feareth
• The sestet is now really a 3rd
For
though
lost
myand
time
quatrain and final couplet
Buthitherto
in the field
withI have
him to
live
die?
Me
no longer
rotten
boughs
to climb.
Forlist
good
is the life
ending
faithfully
• 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.