The Complete Poems

by Thomas Wyatt

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140422277
• ISBN13: 9780140422276
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 560 Pages
• Weight: 0.79 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.1" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

The authoritative work

This is the authoritative book on the subject of this the first modern English Poet - more neglected than he ought to be - out of print in Europe - Wyat survived life as a courtier/diplomat in the court of Henry 8th - a king as corrupted by power as its possible to be - a 16th C saddam Hussein - and yet produced these deeeply sensitive poems.

One of the greatest poets in the English language

His voice still rings beautiful and true after five hundred years. What he has to say concerns our daily lives in this hard, competitive society as much as the intrigues of the Henrician court.

The first bright light of English Renaissance poetry

Wyatt is, quite simply, a brilliant poet, taking the Petrarchan love poem and adapting it to represent life in the promiscuous court of Henry VIII. And "They Flee from Me" is one of the greatest poems in the English language. Rebholz's introduction and notes make this THE edition for serious study of Wyatt's achievement.