ABSTRACT
Whilst Thomas Wyatt's pragmatic critique of humanism and the court in a Spending Hand may suggest that the poet is untainted by the corruption of the court. At the same time, William Dunbar's intricate rhetorical strategy, which stretches across numerous poems and genres, helped to deflect the attention of envious contemporaries. A close reading of the satire shows it would be a mistake simply to assume that because Wyatt expresses his disgust towards dissimilation and dishonesty in some of his verse. In the rapidly changing Europe of the sixteenth century, European courts were places of deadly intrigue where factions plotted against each other for power, wealth and prestige. Behind the artificial frivolity and macabre mask of charm, every deed, every word, was weighed for the information it could yield. Wyatt's having acted as an agent provocateur and spy perhaps answers why the poet seems to have led such a charmed life within the volatile world of the Tudor court.
