There followed an interesting anonymous effort: ‘The Excellent Epitaffe of Syr Thomas Wyat, with two other compendious dytties, wherin are touchyd, and set furth the state of mannes lyfe. (Imprynted at London by John Herforde for Roberte Toye [1542],’ 4to, 4 leaves); the portrait of Wyatt, in a circle, is reproduced from Leland's ‘Nænia;’ a partial reissue was entitled ‘A compendious dittie, wherein the state of mans lyfe is briefely touched,’ London, by Thomas Berthelet, 3 Jan. 1547–8. But the most interesting poetic tributes to Wyatt were paid by Surrey in two poems—one a sonnet and the other an elegy in forty-eight lines which were first published by Tottel in ‘Songes and Sonettes’ (1557).
Wyatt belonged to the cultivated circle of Henry VIII's court. He closely studied foreign literature, and acquired a high reputation as a writer of English verse. He ordinarily shares with Henry Howard, earl of Surrey [q. v.], the honour of having introduced the sonnet from Italy into this country. He is better entitled to be treated as the pioneer. Wyatt was Surrey's senior by fifteen years. At Wyatt's death Surrey was only twenty-four. When Wyatt first studied Petrarch's sonnets in Italy, Surrey was barely nine. Surrey may be fairly regarded as Wyatt's disciple. Wyatt wrote both sacred and secular verse, but none of his compositions were published in his lifetime. His sacred poems, in which he shows the influence of Dante and Alamanni, appeared in 1549 as ‘Certayne Psalmes chosen out of the Psalter of Dauid commonly called the vij penytentiall Psalmes, drawen into Englyshe meter by Sir Thomas Wyat, knyght, whereunto is added a prologe of the auctore before every Psalma very pleasant and profettable to the godly reader. Imprinted at London by Thomas Raynald and John Harryngton, mdxlix, 4to.’ A sonnet in praise of the book by Surrey is prefixed, and is reprinted in Tottel's ‘Songes and Sonettes’ (ed. Arber, p. 28). The work is dedicated by the printer Harryngton to William Parr, marquis of Northampton.
Many of Wyatt's secular poems were first printed in 1557, with those of Surrey and some anonymous contemporaries, by Richard Tottel, in the volume called ‘Songes and Sonettes,’ which is commonly quoted as ‘Tottel's Miscellany.’ Ninety-six poems are there assigned to Wyatt out of a total of 310. In Nott's edition of the works of Surrey and Wyatt (1815–16) important additions to the collection of Tottel were made from manuscript sources. The most historically interesting of Wyatt's surviving poems are thirty-one regular sonnets; of these ten are direct translations of Petrarch, and many others betray his influence. The metre is simplified from the Italian model, and the two concluding lines usually form a rhymed couplet. The rest of Wyatt's poems consist of rondeaus, epigrams, lyrics in various short metres, and satires in heroic couplets. His muse was largely imitative, and French and Spanish verse was laid under contribution as well as Italian. His epigrams often imitate the strambotti of Serafino dell' Aquila. His satires are inspired by a study of Horace or Persius. Wyatt's poetic efforts often lack grace, his versification is at times curiously uncouth, his sonnets are strained and artificial in style as well as in sentiment; but he knew the value of metrical rules and musical rhythm, as the ‘Address to his Lute’ amply attests. Despite his persistent imitation of foreign models, too, he displays at all points an individual energy of thought, which his disciple Surrey never attained. As a whole his work evinces a robuster taste and intellect than Surrey's.
‘Tottel's Miscellany’ was constantly reprinted [see Howard, Henry, Earl of Surrey; Tottel, Richard]. Wyatt's poems were separately reprinted from ‘Tottel's Miscellany’ twice in 1717, in Bell's ‘Annotated Edition of English Poets’ in 1854; by the Rev. George Gilfillan, Edinburgh, in 1858; and by James Yeowell in the ‘Aldine Poets,’ 1863.
The poetical works of Wyatt and Surrey have often been edited together, notably in 1815–16, by George Frederick Nott [q. v.], who printed many new poems by Wyatt for the first time from the Harington MSS. and the Duke of Devonshire's manuscript collections (2 vols. 4to), and again in 1831 by Sir Harris Nicolas.
