Complete Works of Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder - Volume One: Prose

Thomas Wyatt (1504?-42) may have written the first sonnet in English. His translation from Plutarch's Moralia was the first publication of a classical moral essay in English. He introduced continental forms such as ottava rima to the language, and his paraphrase of the Penitential Psalms sparked a century of popular psalm translations. Yet while decades of criticism have centered on a handful of his best-known poems, many others are poorly understood, in part because we lack an authoritative edition. This volume--the first in a planned two-volume collection of Wyatt's complete works--comprises scholarly editions of 35 letters or memoranda, Wyatt's Declaration from the Tower and his Defence speech against treason charges. It also includes the first scholarly edition of The Quyete of Mynde. Each text is extensively annotated, each letter has a prefacing headnote, and each grouping of texts is separately introduced. The recipient of one letter is identified here for the first time from new archival discoveries. Two letters of instruction from Henry VIII are included along with four appendices containing related documents. Biographical entries (totalling 17,000 words) identify and introduce 64 persons related to Wyatt's diplomatic service, including every known member of Wyatt's diplomatic household.

Product details

• Authors: Jason Powell, Jason (Associate Professor of English Powell
• Assisted by: Jason Powell (Editor), Jason (Associate Professor of English Powell (Editor), Powell Jason (Editor)
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 10.12.2015
• EAN: 9780199228607
• ISBN: 978-0-19-922860-7
• No. of pages: 528
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > English linguistics / literary studies; History, Prose: non-fiction, HISTORY / General, LITERARY COLLECTIONS / General, 17th century, c 1600 to c 1699, Literary studies: general, Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700, Biography and non-fiction prose, Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800, Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers, Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers, 16th century, c 1500 to c 1599, LITERARY CRITICISM / Novel as Form