RENAISSANCE
The term originally described a period of cultural,technological,and artistic vitality during the economic expansion in Britain in the late 1500s and early 1600s. Thinkers at this time and later saw themselves as rediscovering and redistributing the legacy of classical Greco-Roman culture by renewing forgotten studies and artistic practices,hence the name Renaissance or ''rebirth''. They believed they were breaking with the days of ''ignorance'' and ''superstition'' represented by recent medieval thinking
and returning to a golden age akin to that of ancient Greeks and Romans from centuries earlier a cultural idea that will eventually culminate in the enlightenment of the late 1600s up until about 1799 or so.
SONNET: A lyric poem of fourteen lines,usually in iambic pentameter,with rimes arranged according to certain definite patterns. It usually expresses a single,complete idea or thought with a reversal,twist,or change of direction in the concluding lines. There are three common forms.
1)ITALIAN OR PETRARCHAN
2)ENGLISH OR SHAKESPEAREAN
3)MILTONIC
The PETRARCHAN SONNET has an eight line stanza called an octave followed by a six line stanza called sestet . The octave has two quatrains riming ABBA,ABBA the first of which presents the theme,the second further develops it. In the sestet the first three lines reflect on or exemplifying the theme,while the last three bring the poem to a unified end. The sestet may be arranged CDECDE,CDCDCD, or CDEDCE.
The SHAKESPEAREAN SONNET uses three quatrains each rime differently with a final independently rimed couplet that makes an effective unifying climax to the whole. Its rime scheme is ABAB,CDCD,EFEF,GG. Typically the final two lines follow a turn or a volte.
The MILTONIC SONNET is smiliar to the Petrarchan sonnet but it doesn't divide its thought between the octave and the sestet the sense or line of thinking runs straight from the eight to ninth line. Also Milton expands the sonnets repertoire to deal not only with love as the earlier sonnets did , but also to include politics religion and personal matters.
The Long Love that in my Thought doth Harbour
The long love that in my thought doth harbour
And in mine hert doth keep his residence,
Into my face presseth with bold pretence
And therein campeth, spreading his banner.
She that me learneth to love and suffer
And will that my trust and lustës negligence
Be rayned by reason, shame, and reverence,
With his hardiness taketh displeasure.
Wherewithall unto the hert's forest he fleeth,
Leaving his enterprise with pain and cry,
And there him hideth and not appeareth.
What may I do when my master feareth
But in the field with him to live and die?
For good is the life ending faithfully.
Poetry
Introduction to the Sonnet
A brief overview of the sonnetThe word sonnet comes from the Italian word, "sonetto" which also translates into "little song." A sonnet, has been generally known to be a poem that contains fourteen lines of iambic pentameter
("Definition of a Sonnet," 2013). Iambic pentameter is a line that consists of five iambs, being one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable. This method is used by many poets from the English language and proves to be a fundamental building block of poetry ("Iambic Pentameter," 2010). Traditional sonnets have been classified into groups based on a a particular rhyme scheme. Sonnet's differ in many ways throughout the years and have been changed with each author that have utilized the sonnet.
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| Graph that represents the differences and similiarties between poets using a form of the sonnet |
From the picture above, we could recognize that Wyatt followed in Petrarch's lead in constructing the sonnet. Wyatt used Petrachian form in the first two stanzas and only the first two lines in the third. Wyatt strayed from Petrarch's form in the last stanza, instead of doing three lines with a CD, DC, ED rhyme scheme he chose to do a couplet. A couplet is two lines that have the same end rhyme. Spencer and Shakespeare utilized couplet's in the last stanza in their own versions of a sonnet as well. This graph establishes the fact that all authors recycle, borrow and change forms from each other. This shows that there is no right way to write a sonnet, that it is all up to the author.
Analysis
Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder has written his poem loosely based on the work by Petrarch entitled Rima 140. At first glance, both poems seem to be dealing with love. Upon closer reading one can tell that the author means much more. Coming from a courtly status in the court of King Henry VIII Wyatt could mean love as a metaphor for service and pledge of honor to ones king. After examining lines one and two, the honor one has pledged to his king is inescapable and always present not only in ones mind but his heart as well. Lines three and four imply that regardless of how one truly feels the king or lord a courtier owes service to will embed his thoughts and cause into the servants mind.
Because of the pledge of honor, pursuing ones love interest may not be possible at all. The next quatrain implies unattainable love because of ones loyalty to his king. The speaker has learned to love and suffer with it because of the expected sanity he is forced to uphold fighting against his lust over her with reason and reverence. The next lines talk about being able to flee into his hearts desires, the vast forest found within his desires. The speaker could hide there, unable to perform his duties to his king and focus on the pain and sadness this unattainable love has given him. The last couplet in the poem gives the speaker a reason to disregard his own desires in order to help his king. As long as the speaker is able to live a faithful life and honor his pledge to his king or lord his life becomes one of virtue.
This poem has a clear reflection of the influences of Petrarch. Focusing on unattainable love was a clear influence to Petrarch so it makes sense for Wyatt’s poem to mimic that. Despite the suffering caused by things unattainable, a courtier must still perform his duties to those in court in order to be considered honorable or virtuous. These poems both seem to complain about the every day pressures found in such a society built upon honor and servitude.
Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder (1503-1542)
| Sir Thomas Wyatt |
Biography
Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder was an accomplished diplomat and Renaissance poet well known for his influence on the development of the sonnet. During his lifetime, his poems were circulated in manuscript form to members of the king's court but were not officially published until after his death. In 1557, ninety-six of his poems were published in an anthology which included works by Surrey, another influential writer of the time. Along with the Earl of Surrey, Wyatt is credited with the introduction of the sonnet to the English language. His poems were mostly concerned with love and his lovers, many of which were based on sonnets by Petrarch. His most famous poems are "Whoso List to Hunt," "They Flee From Me," "What No, Perdie," "Lux, My Fair Falcon," and "Blame Not My Lute." Wyatt also wrote three satires in which he adopted the Italian terza rima into English ("Thomas Wyatt," 2013). Although he lived many years ago, his works are still studied and enjoyed today.
Early Life
Thomas Wyatt was born at Allington Castle in 1503 in Kent, England. He was the son of Henry Wyatt, a Lancastrian who was imprisoned during the reign of Richard III, but then was released by Henry VII. After being freed, Henry became a Privy Councillor, or private advisor, for Henry VII and executed his will upon his death in 1509. He then went on to serve Henry VIII and was made a Knight of the Bath at his coronation ceremony in June of 1509. His mother was Anne Skinner who was famous for her hospitality. Anne was the daughter of John Skinner of Reigate, a clerk of the peace (Claire, 2010). While little is known about his childhood, including his education during that period, his adult life is filled with dramatic turns much like his work.
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| Allington Castle in Kent, England |
There is one story about his childhood that is well known: the story of the lion. As the story goes, Wyatt was raising a lion cub with his father and it attacked him. Wyatt then grabbed his sword and stabbed it right through the lion’s heart. When Henry VIII heard this story he replied, “Oh, he will tame lions” (Claire, 2010). In 1516, at the ripe age of thirteen, Wyatt entered St. John’s College, University of Cambridge, a college known for humanism. Just four years later in 1520, he married Elizabeth Brooke, the daughter of Lord Cobham, who bore him two children. One, a son, was cleverly named Thomas Wyatt the Younger (Jokinen, 2010). The Duke of Norfolk became the baby’s godfather at the christening.
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| A Timeline of Sir Thomas Wyatt's Life |
Career
Following in the footsteps of his father, Wyatt worked in the court of King Henry VIII. His occupation in the court varied based on what was needed. In 1525 he became esquire of the king’s body and clerk of the king’s jewels. His skills in music and language served him, and the king well and Wyatt found himself in the king’s favor despite his minor role. He was so handsomely favored that in 1527 he became an ambassador to France and Rome. He began taking many foreign missions including one to France in 1526 and one to the Papal Court in Rome in 1527, a trip intended to convince the Pope Clement VII to annul the king’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon (Claire, 2010).
In 1528 Wyatt became High Marshall of Calais and in 1532 he became the Commissioner of the Peace in Essex. Wyatt was also chosen to accompany the king and Anne Boleyn on their visit to France in late 1532, and later served Anne at her coronation. Wyatt was then knighted by Henry VIII in 1535. His time as a diplomat to France and Rome served his poetry well as the prosody and languages influenced his writing (claire, 2010). His poems found their way around the King’s court during his lifetime, but it was after Wyatt’s death that they were printed. His poetry was loosely based on the Petrarchan sonnet. He and the Earl of Surrey are frequently credited as ushering the sonnet into English culture ("Thomas Wyatt," 2013). As with many sonnets, Wyatt was frequently concerned with matters of the heart and ill treatment for the sake of love.
Thomas Wyatt and Anne Boleyn
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| Anne Boleyn |
Just one year after being knighted, in 1536 he was imprisoned for quarreling with a Duke. He was not mentioned as a prisoner by the Constable of the Tower of London until May 5th. This is also suspicious as he was arrested shortly after five other men believed to be Boleyn’s lovers were jailed (Jokinen, 2010). On May 17, Thomas watched the executions of the five other men imprisoned because of associations with Anne Boleyn. He noted his shock and terror in his poem “Innocentia Veritas Viat Fides Cicumdederunt me inimici met,” and worried that he would have a similar fate. Thomas Cromwell, a friend of Wyatt’s and enemy of Boleyn wrote to Wyatt and reassured him that he would eventually be released. However, Cromwell warned Wyatt that he needed to mend his relationship with the king in order to stay safe (Claire, 2010). Similarly, Boleyn did not escape an unfortunate fate. The King investigated Anne for connections with Protestant churches and following what was considered a fair trial, Anne was beheaded. Wyatt was only in jail for a month, but that was long enough to see Anne and her five accused lovers murdered. After leaving jail, Wyatt found himself back in the King’s good graces.
Final Days
Although he was able to escape the same fate as Boleyn, in 1541 a revival of old charges related to Wyatt's early time as ambassador found him again imprisoned in the Tower. He was accused of treason for making rude comments about the king and mistreating members of the court (Jokinen, 2010). At the request of the Queen he was released, but had to agree to return to his ex-wife. After the pardon, he was restored to his office of ambassador and given various royal offices. He was unable to enjoy his return because he became ill and died on October 11, 1542 at Clifton Maybank House, the home of his good friend Sir John Horsey, in Sherborne Dorset. He was laid to rest at Sherborne Abbey and his tomb can be viewed in the Wykenham Chapel of the Abbey (Claire, 2010).
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| Sir Thomas Wyatt's Tombstone |
"Love that doth reign and live within my thought"
BASIC FACTS:
Title: Love, that doth reign and live within my thought.
Author: Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey.
Date of publication: 1557.
Collection: Tottel’s Miscellany. Songes and Sonnettes Written By the Ryght Honorable Lord Henry Horward, Earle of Surrey, and Others.
Poetic genre: Translation of a Petrarchan sonnet (‘Rime 140’) into English.
Metric: It follows the pattern of the Shakespearian sonnet: three quatrains followed by a final couplet. It is written in iambic pentameters with very few metrical deviations (only the first foot in the first verse).
Rhyme: Masculine: abab cdcd ecec ff.
FURTHER INFORMATION:
Major Themes:
- Unreturned, non-reciprocal love.
- Individualism: Men can also show their feelings during the Renaissance.
Symbols:
- Love as war.
- Love as hunting.
- Association of love with thought instead of heart. ‘Intellectualisation’ of love.
- Conquering the beloved’s love becomes an ‘enterprise’.
Literary devices:
- Military semantic field: ‘banner’, ‘fought’, etc.
- Personification of love as male.
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