Selected Poems

Sir Thomas Wyatt, "the first great English lyric poet", remains one of the most popular writer's of Henry VIII's court, and the most romantic, given his entanglement with Anne Boleyn, which resulted - legend has it - in some of his most passionate and vulnerable poems. This book contains a representative selection of his work: all the best-loved poems and many lesser-known pieces which illuminate a complex and sophisticated sensibility. Hardiman Scott sees Wyatt as a modern poet before his time and demonstrates the impact he and his younger contemporary the Earl of Surrey had on the development of English poetry. Wyatt introduced the sonnet, terza rima and other Italian verse forms into English and invented forms and processes of his own. Hardiman Scott's introduction and notes illuminate Wyatt's importance as "a modern poet before his time", "at a crossroads in English poetry", and provides a detailed outline of the social and literary context in which Wyatt worked and the impact he had on the development of English poetry.