Poetry by Henry Howard

PRIMARY SOURCE:

• "I never saw my lady lay apart"
• "The sun hath twice brought forth his tender green"
• "London! hast thou accused me"
• "Wyatt resteth here, that quick could never rest" 

Context

• Publication: Surrey was born eldest son of Thomas Howard and Elizabeth Stafford (daughter to Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham), entitled Earl of Surrey at age 7 when his father ascended to Duke of Norfolk upon his father's death, and raised alongside Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond, from age 12. Surrey spent a year at the French court, returning for Anne Boelyn's wedding. Surrey wed Frances de Vere, daughter to the Earl of Oxford, in 1532. The Seymours conspired against Surrey at court, eventually resulting in Surrey's imprisonment in Windsor. He returned to favor, but was imprisoned in Fleet for drunken rioting, where he composed "London hast thou accused me." Despite his service in war, the Seymours won a campaign to have Surrey convicted of treason. Among other reasons, Surrey displayed the royal quarterings on his shield. Surrey's poetry circulated in manuscript long after his death, and Richard Tottel published 47 of them alongside 90 by Wyatt in the Miscellany. EEBO link.
• Scholarship: Scholars have been interested in Surrey's early adoption of the sonnet, in his Ovidianism, his erotic politics, and in his use of heraldry.
• Why I'm reading it: The Canon, the court, sonnets, songs, heraldry.

Content

• Form:
• "I never saw my lady lay apart": Iambic pentameter. Shakespearean rhyme scheme.
• "The sun hath twice brought forth his tender green": Iambic pentameter. abab
• "London! hast thou accused me": Iambic tetrameter. abab
• "Wyatt resteth here, that quick could never rest": Iambic pentameter. abab
• Genre:
• "I never saw my lady lay apart": Sonnet.
• "The sun hath twice brought forth his tender green": Lover's lament.
• "London! hast thou accused me": Satiric jeremiad.
• "Wyatt resteth here, that quick could never rest": Elegy and encomium.
• Conceit:
• "I never saw my lady lay apart": The speaker can't see his Petrarchan lover through her hairpiece.
• "The sun hath twice brought forth his tender green": A pathetic environment mourns the speaker's spurning by his lady.
• "London! hast thou accused me": The speaker hides his unruly behavior with a feigned jeremiad.
• "Wyatt resteth here, that quick could never rest": The speaker anatomizes Wyatt's corpse to praise his virtues.