EARLY TUDOR POETRY

The reign of Henry VIII was rocked by momentous events in the political, religious and domestic spheres. Partly owing to the national preoccupation with the national affairs, partly due to the reluctance of noble men to come forward as professed authors, most courtly verse written during Henry VIII’s time was published only after his death. In 1557 Richard Tottel published Songs and Sonnets, written by the right honourable Lord Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey and others. Surrey, who was then no more, was singled out for mention because of his exalted rank. The other important contributors of the Tottel’s Miscellany were Sir Thomas Wyatt, Nicholas Grimald, and Lord Thomas Vaux. Sir Thomas Wyatt, English nobleman and diplomat, was an important literary figure of 16th century England. He is believed to have come under the spell of Anne Boleyn for a time, for which he won the displeasure of the king later, though temporarily. Though, like Surrey, Wyatt had been considerably influenced by foreign masters, he was an enthusiastic reader of Chaucer and borrowed many stylistic and formal features from him. As was fashionable in Henry VIII’s Court, Wyatt wrote lyrics that could be set to music. One such song beginning “A Robyn / Joly Robyn” was immortalized by the fool in Twelfth Night. Some of Wyatt’s lyrics show French influence, especially his rondeaux, but it cannot be clearly distinguished from his Italian influence. It was as a student of Petrarch, Serafino, Alamanni and Aretino that Wyatt opened a new era in English poetry and introduced the sonnet, the epigram and the terza rima to his fellow poets. Though out of a total 31, 20 of his sonnets have been traced to Italian originals (mainly Petrarch), Wyatt was no slavish follower of his master. In the sestet he deviates from the Petrarchan rhyme scheme and rhymes cdd cee. Thus he introduces a final couplet to which the Elizabethan sonnet has clung in all its variations. Wyatt’s sonnets exhibited a robust and defiant spirit and adapted Petrarchan lines to his own English circumstances. Wyatt showed greater mastery over a simpler verse form, ottawa rima, in which most of his epigrams are written, in which he borrows chiefly from Serafino. Wyatt also wrote 3 satires, one of which he dedicated to Sir Francis Brian and the other two to John Poynz. These are written in terza rima, the metre used by Alamanni in his Satires. The moral fervour of the Satires turns to the pleading of a penitent heart in the Penitential Psalms, of which Aretino’s Psalms are the source. In his verse Wyatt is present throughout as a man of affairs and a moralist. His interests were not insular but European and he brought English poetry into the great tradition of Greece and Rome, of Italy, France and Spain.

Henry Howard, the Earl of Surrey mourned Wyatt’s death in a fine elegy. Like Wyatt he seems to have had a mistress—“Geraldine”. In career and fortune both poets were akin to each other. As a lyricist Surrey surpasses Wyatt in his sensitivity to natural beauty and his instinct for melodious rhythm. Though his direct borrowings from Italian are fewer than Wyatt’s, he was more deeply affected by the tearful sentimentality of the Petrarchan school. But in technique Surrey broke away from the Italian models. He introduced the Elizabethan model with 3 quatrains and a couplet, thus forsaking the structural balance and intricate rhyme-scheme of the original. Though Surrey’s sonnets had a stateliness of their own, it was only in Shakespeare’s hands that the English sonnet achieved full grace and charm. Another of Surrey’s favourite metres was an Alexandrine (12 syllabled line) followed by a “fourteener”, called a ‘Poulter’s measure’. This was quite popular in Surrey’s time but died out in later ages.

In his translation of Aeneid, Surrey abandoned rhyme altogether and stumbled inadvertently upon a revolutionary metre – the blank verse. This translation was first published by John Day. Though in his translation Surrey borrowed freely from Gawain Douglas’s earlier rhymed version, his translation had an individual stamp and a remarkable quality. Surrey’s innate sense of rhythm and sensibility to suffering equipped him to interpret Virgil. It is interesting to note that in Tottel’s Miscellany itself there are 2 short blank-verse translations by another hand – Nicholas Grimald. But Grimald’s blank verse lacks the sweetness of Surrey’s and the constant alliteration is monotonous, but there is skilful use of run on lines.

A Mirror for Magistrates is one of the important books of the early Tudor period. It was a work planned by George Ferrers and William Baldwin. In it various men and women, most of them drawn from English history, recount their down fall in verse. It was begun as a continuation of Lydgate’s The Falls of Princes. Apart from Ferrers and Baldwin, Thomas Churchyard and Thomas Sackville were also associated with the writing of this work. Sackville wrote in rhyme–royal the Induction to this work and contributed 2 poems including ‘The Complaint of Buckingham’. As a poet Sackville had vision, instinct and a true mastery over his craft; and in essence, he belonged to the Renaissance. In the field of drama he collaborated with Norton in writing Gorboduc. Thereafter he retired from literary activity and Spenser lamented the silence of his learned Muse”.

Edmund Spenser was the greatest literary influence of this period. His major works are TheShepheardes Calender, The Faerie Queene, Dapnaida, an Elegy, Astrophel, a Pastoral Elegy, Amoretti, Epithalamion, Four Hymns and Prothalamion. In The Shepheardes Calender, the author, veiling himself under the modest title of ‘Immerito,’ steps aside for ‘E.K.’ (believed to be Edward Kirke) who introduces the poem to Gabriel Harvey. The work is dedicated to Sidney and it consists of 12 eclogues, one for every month of the year. They take the form of dialogues among shepherds, except the first and last, which are complaints by Colin Clout, who is Spenser himself. The eclogues are modelled on those by Theocritus, Virgil, Mantuan and Marot. In a shorter poem, Mother Hubbard’s Tale, Spenser’s discipleship to Chaucer is evident. Here he turns a beast-fable to political and social satire. The bare, forthright diction and the strong, rapid swing of the decasyllabic couplet have the Chaucerian stamp. Spenser’s Colin Clouts Come Home Againe is an allegorical pastoral dedicated to Walter Ralegh. The poem ends with a tribute to Colin’s mistress Rosalind. The greatest work of Spenser is The Faerie Queene, the 1st 3 books of which were published in 1590 and the next 3 in 1596. The general scheme of the work is elaborated on in the author’s introductory letter to Walter Ralegh. By The Faerie Queene the poet signifies glory in the abstract and Elizabeth I in particular, who also figures under the names Britomart, Belphoebe, Mercilla and Gloriana. Twelve of her knights – examples of twelve virtues – each undertake an adventure. Prince Arthur, symbolising ‘magnificence’ has a vision of the Faerie Queene, and determined to seek her out, is brought into the adventures of the Knights. The book however does not present Arthur but starts at once with the adventures of the knights.

They are:

I. The adventures of the Redcrosse Knight of Holiness (The Anglican Church);

II. The adventures of Sir Guyon, the Knight of temperance;

III. The legend of chastity, exemplified by Britomart and Beplhoebe;

IV. The legend of Triamond and Campbell exemplifying Friendship;

V. The adventures of Artegall, the Knight of Justice;

VI. The adventures of Sir Calidore, exemplifying Courtesy.

There is also a fragment on Mutabilitie, which was to have formed the 7th book. The book is modelled to some extent on Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso. The work is written in the Spenserian stanza. The Faerie Queene is an allegory on multiple levels. It is the moral allegory of Glory, the political one of Queen Elizabeth and the religious allegory of the Anglican Church. There is also a historical level and at times Arthur is to be identified with Leicester, Artegall with Lord Grey of Wilton and Duessa with Mary, Queen of Scots. In fact Spenser’s genius and imagination were too fertile to move at ease within the limits of allegory. He had a vast framework to fill, and he crowded into it the most diverse materials. But, even though there is no structural unity, there is an inner spiritual one. It is the epic of the militant spiritual life, ever battling with evil in its many forms, unwearied in the quest for Honour. However, in spite of his strict moral sense, Spenser had a keen sensibility for Beauty which is very much part of his work. Perfectly matching the rich complexity of The Faerie Queene is the nine – lined Spenserian stanza ending with the Alexandrine and rhyming ababbcbcc. The Faerie Queene does indeed foretell a golden age of English literature, being a poetic masterpiece worthy to be set beside the plays of Shakespeare, the prose of the Authorized Version and the prophetic vision of the Baconian philosophy.