English Literature / Unit 6 ENL 0504 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Wyatt and the English Petrarchan Sonnet
Captions available
The idea
Thomas Wyatt, courtier and diplomat, translated Petrarch and brought the sonnet into English, along with terza rima and ottava rima. His poems circulated at court and were printed after his death, in Tottel's Miscellany of fifteen fifty-seven. The anchor also credits him with the English sonnet; the witness credits Surrey.
In practice
The sonnet, imported from Italy.
Where people slip
Sources differ on the English form.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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