Wyatt, << WY uht, >> Sir Thomas (1503?-1542), was an English poet whose most important works are lyrics he wrote for lute accompaniment. Wyatt was active during the first phase of the English Renaissance. He adapted works by many writers, including the Italian Renaissance poet Luigi Alamanni. Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, are credited with introducing Petrarch’s sonnet techniques into English literature. Wyatt is usually linked in literary history with the Earl of Surrey because their poems were first published together in The Book of Songs and Sonnets (1557), usually called Tottel’s Miscellany. See Surrey, Earl of.
Wyatt was born in Kent. He received a good education and traveled on the European continent as a diplomat for King Henry VIII. Wyatt wrote a satire on court life called Mine Owne John Poins. He died on Oct. 6, 1542.
See also “They Flee from Me.
