Audiobook

They Flee From Me and other poems

Thomas Wyatt

Sir Thomas Wyatt was an English poet, courtier and ambassador for King Henry VIII, who sent him on Embassies to the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. Wyatt's poetry is little read these days, perhaps because of the archaic nature of his language, but he was an important poet in his own day as he introduced into English poetry many ideas and techniques from other languages particularly Italian. He used the Sonnet form developed by Petrarch and verse forms used by Dante and others. His work influenced later Tudor poets including Philip Sidney and William Shakespeare. Wyatt's poems tend to be better known by their opening lines than their actual titles but this project will use the full titles. Wyatt was rumoured to have been the lover of Anne Boleyn to whom he addressed several poems including the rather unflattering "Ye Olde Mule" written after she married Henry VIII. (Summary by Alan Mapstone)