ABSTRACT
Indeed, the very first British writer to use the sonnet, Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503?-42), altered it very considerably: he made the first formal change in the structure of the sonnet since its invention in southern Italy in the early thirteenth century. In considering Wyatt’s introduction of the form to Britain and his recasting of it, one has a slight sense of historical replay: for the sonnet was
invented, as was said in Chapter 2, at the court of Frederick II, an enlightened, cultured and also ruthless despot, by a courtier academically trained for diplomatic service, writing for and in a group of courtiers, and seems to have offered a kind of courtierly utterance safely below the level of political action. So, too, Sir Thomas Wyatt’s new sonnet at the court of Henry VIII, a cultured but ruthless sovereign, was brought in by a courtier academically trained for royal service, writing among his peers, and offering a persona locating itself just under the level of political explicitness.
