I call to mind the navy great
That the Greeks brought to Troia town,
And how the boisterous winds did beat
Their ships, and rent their sails adown,
Till Agamemnon's daughter's blood
Appeased the gods that them withstood

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517?-1547) was known to his contemporaries as 'the most accomplished gentleman of his age', noble learned and elegant. A man of his time, at the centre of the dangerous power games of the court of Henry VIII, Surrey was beheaded for his role in a conspiracy over succession. His poetry reflects that world, in its idealistaion of the aristocratic virtues of chivalry and honour, its rich language and formal sophistication.

Immensely influential in literary history for his development of blank verse and the Petrarchian sonnet form in English, and as the first modern translator of Virgil, Surrey is revealed in this selection as a subtle and graceful poet, and a translator whose vigorous and faithful versions of the Aeneid continue to enrich the literary tradition.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Textual and bibliographical note



Virgil's Aeneid

Book II, lines 1-73

Book II, lines 295-462

Book II, lines 966-1068

Book IV, lines 1-108

Book IV, lines 359-518

Book IV, lines 780-884



From the Italian

The soote season, that bud and bloom forth brings

Set me where as the sun doth parch the green

Love that doth reign and live within my thought

In Cyprus springs, where as dame Venus dwelt

I never saw you, madam, lay apart

Alas, so all things do hold their peace

The golden gift that nature did thee give

The sun hath twice brought forth the tender green

Such wayward ways hath love that most part in discord



Poems

Give place, ye lovers, here before

When Windsor walls sustained my wearied arm

So cruel a prison how betide, alas

From Tuscan came my lady's worthy race

Though I regarded not

Wrapped in my careless cloak, as I walk to and fro

Girt in my guiltless gown, as I sit here and sew

Each beast can choose his fere according to his mind

Wyatt resteth here, that quick could never rest

Diverse thy death do diversely bemoan

The great Macedon that out of Persia chased

Th'Assyrians' king, in peace with foul desire

London, hast thou accused me

Laid in my quiet bed, in study as I were

Martial, the things for to attain

Since fortune's wrath envieth the wealth

When raging love with extreme pain

Good ladies, you that have your pleasure in exile

O happy dames, that may embrace

The fancy which that I have served long

Norfolk sprang thee, Lambeth holds thee dead



LAST POEMS

Ecclesiastes, Chapter Two

Ecclesiastes, Chapter Three

When reckless youth in quiet breast

Psalm Eighty Eight

The sudden storms that heave me to and fro

Psalm Seventy Three

Psalm Fifty Five

The storms are past, these clouds are overblown



Notes