Thomas Wyatt

Thomas Wyatt (b. 1504?–d. 1542) almost certainly wrote the first sonnet in English. His Penitential Psalm paraphrase inaugurated a fashion for psalm translation, he introduced ottava rima to the English language, and he may have invented poulter’s measure—a form now often derided by critics, but deeply popular in Wyatt’s own century. His Quyete of Mynde (1529) became the first classical moral essay published in English. His diplomatic letters from the court of Charles V from 1537 to 1540 experiment with narrative form, and his letters of advice to his son reveal a deep interest in the Stoic thought of Seneca and Epictetus. Yet Wyatt was above all a royal servant—sometimes to the wrong royal, if he remained devoted, as Brigden 2012 (cited under Book-Length Studies) suggests, to Katherine of Aragon as late as 1529, well beyond the point of political expediency. Thomas Cromwell’s patronage appears to have restored him to Henry VIII’s favor, despite imprisonment with the accused lovers of Anne Boleyn in 1536 and another imprisonment in 1541. He died on 11 October 1542 after developing a fever while riding to greet the imperial ambassador at Falmouth. This article complements the excellent separate Oxford Bibliographies in British and Irish Literature article “Thomas Wyatt,” and should be consulted alongside of it where possible.