From his death onwards, Sir Thomas Wyatt (
c.1504–1542) was recognised as the foremost poet at Henry VIII’s court. He was—according to his poetic acolyte Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1516/17–1547)—the “hand that taught what might be sayd in ryme” (Jones, 1964, p. 27). While remembered primarily as a pioneering poet from the “new company of courtly makers” that “sprong vp” towards the end of Henry’s reign (Puttenham, 1968, p. 48), Wyatt was also an accomplished writer of prose. Indeed, Wyatt’s first published work—
The Quyete of Mynde(1528)—is a pithy prose translation of Plutarch’s essay
De tranquillitate animi[“On tranquillity of mind”]. Wyatt’s poems were printed only posthumously, so Wyatt’s first and only appearance as an author in print during…
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Citation: Stamatakis, Chris. "The Works of Sir Thomas Wyatt". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 March 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=34388, accessed 03 December 2024.]
