SIR THOMAS WYATT (1503?-1542) Wyatt was preeminently a courtier. Well educated at Cambridge, and, possibly, also at Oxford, he began his career at court in several offices connected with the person of the king, from which he advanced speedily to diplomatic services, during the period 1525-1540, in France, Italy, Spain, and Flanders. In 1536, Wyatt was knighted, and in 1542, he represented Kent in parliament. A vigorous tradition persists that Wyatt was attached to the English court not only through his official appointments, but also, indirectly, as the youthful lover of Anne Boleyn. Well-read in Italian, French, and classical literature, Wyatt deliberately formed his style by imitating Italian and French models. He is conspicuous in the history of English literature chiefly from the fact that he introduced into English the sonnet form, with its refining influence upon English meter and diction. Several of Wyatt's sonnets are direct translations from Petrarch, upon whom, throughout, he drew largely for his rime-scheme, his vocabulary, and his conventional ideas. Besides sonnets, Wyatt wrote other lyrics, epigrams, satires, and devotional verse. In his lyrics other than sonnets, is found his finest work. A collection of Wyatt's poems was printed in Songs and Sonnets written by the right honorable Lord Henry Howard, late Earl of Surrey, and others, published by Richard Tottel in 1557, and commonly known as Tottel's Miscellany. THE LOVER FOR SHAME-FASTNESS The long love that in my thought I harbor, Be reined by reason, shame, and reverence, Leaving his enterprise with pain and cry, 10 THE LOVER COMPARETH HIS STATE My galley charged with forgetfulness pass, 'Tween rock and rock; and eke my foe, alas, That is my lord, steereth with cruelness, |