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[Graven with Diamonds: The many lives of Thomas Wyatt: Courtier, Poet, Assassin, Spy]
Sir Thomas Wyatt known today as one of the leading poets from the early Tudor period led a colourful life as can be seen from the eye grabbing title of Nicola Shulman’s biography. I was tempted to say that the tile was the best thing about the book, but that would be unfair on Shulman whose vivid account of the goings on at King Henry VIII’s court finally won me over. From the fall of Anne Boleyn until Henry VIII’s demise to survive as a courtier then; being an assassin and a spy would have stood you in good stead, but Shulman argues that Wyatts poetic skills were equally important. Shulman’s biography: if not a panegyric is certainly a very flattering portrait of a man who did what was necessary to survive. Shulman claims his poetry in some respects is the work of a genius and his poems are perhaps some of the greatest works of art ever made, this is in contrast to many literary critics who see Wyatt as a conventional poet who rarely if ever reached the heights that Shulman claims for him.

Thomas Wyatt never reached the inner circle of Henry VIII’s courtiers but he was liked and respected. He was the son of one of the leading families of the time and his father was a courtier. He was a skilled poet and songsmith and many of his early love poems he would have sung accompanying himself on the lute for the pleasure of his fellows. He was quick witted and amusing company as well as having all the social skills necessary to maintain his position, but this did not stop him getting into trouble as it was a case of which faction within the court that got the ear of the king. Wyatt as a man holding reformist views was associated with the Boleyn family and when Anne was arrested along with four men accused of being her lovers, he found himself in the Tower of London as well. He was fortunate no charges were brought against him and he was eventually released. (the others were all executed). He probably owed his good fortune to Thomas Cromwell who was quick to make use of him on his release. He became a diplomat or one of Cromwell’s agents sent first to Spain and then to France. He was eventually relieved of his duties but then found himself in more serious trouble as the catholic Howard family gained the upper hand at court and he was accused of consorting with traitors abroad. Once again in the Tower but now indicted under an act of attainder, his goods and property were all under forfeit and his family and his servants were all at the king’s mercy. Execution was the usual outcome but Wyatt once again got lucky because the young queen Catherine Howard asking for clemency. Wyatt once again found his diplomatic skills in demand and he died in service.

Nicola Shulman’s modus operandi is to tell the story with insight gained from Wyatt’s poetry. She claims that Wyatt’s poetry has translucent properties that reveal far more than many critics have recognised. She uses examples that she claims shed new light, or perhaps contain secret messages to participants in the story and while poems, (but more usually extracts from poems) can be read in this way, for me they provide some food for thought, but little more. I suppose that if you are going to write a biography about a man who is remembered for his poetry then using that poetry where you can, to enhance the story is an interesting idea, especially on events that have been told so often and for which there is limited documentation (I am thinking here of the fall and execution of Ann Boleyn.). If it serves the purpose of reading those poems in a new light then the book has been useful.

Nicola Shulman does have her heroes, but that sometimes happens when writing a biography and she can get a little sidetracked; as at one point I wondered if I was reading a biography of Ann Boleyn, but this is an excellent waltz through a fascinating period of history. I don’t think it offers much in the way of new incites to the events themselves, but it does raise some interesting points about the use and value of the poems. Wyatt’s poems would not have been printed during his lifetime, but would have existed in manuscript form, they would have been recited and sung to people at Henry’s court (people in positions of power) and to think of them as containing coded messages is an interesting concept. Shulman lists her primary and secondary sources and provides an index. She does not take any liberties with the historical facts as far as I can see and I enjoyed the read and so 3.5 stars.
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½
2 voter
Signalé
baswood | 3 autres critiques | Jul 28, 2016 |
Poetry and Fascism, Tudor Style

O.K., the title might seem a bit of a stretch, but if you stop and think about what life must have been like in Henry VIII's England, fascist isn't inappropriate. Loyalty to the nation meant unquestioning loyalty to the crown. This was "Christian" state in which the meaning of Christian changed regularly and was determined by the crown. Dissent was a capital offense.

This is the setting for Nicola Shulman's highly engaging Graven with Diamonds, The Many Lives of Thomas Wyatt: Poet, Lover, Statesman, and Spy in the Court of Henry VIII. Wyatt's poetry was wildly popular during his life, but has been looked on less favorably ever sense. It's sort of an obscure, but obligatory stop along the road that runs from Chaucer to Shakespeare.

What Shulmam does is to look at the politics of Wyatt's time in order to understand the popularity of his poetry and to shine light on some of the less well-known aspects of his life. Anyone who reads much Tudor history will recognize Wyatt's name because he was one of the men confined to the Tower at the time of Anne Boleyn's fall—and the only one of that group to make it out alive. What fewer people know is that Wyatt went on to a career as a diplomat and, despite repeated political intrigues against him, managed that rarity (yes, yes, I'm exaggerating) for a courtier in Tudor England: a natural death.

What's brilliant about Shulman's book—and it is a brilliant book—is the way Shulman combines genres in order to think about Wyatt, his times, and his work in genuinely new ways. This isn't just an individual biography, isn't just portrait of an era, isn't just a critical study of a minor poet. It's all of these and something more.

In Henry VIII's fascist England ( and fascist is my term, not Shulman's) the game of courtly love was played for deadly stakes. As Shulman puts is, Wyatt "like Mandelstam or Akhmatova, was a poet writing under tyranny." To be a success at court, one needed to master courtly love, while at the same time never engaging in behavior that might come back to be used against one. Anne Boleyn and the men she flirted with, but most likely did not have sex with, learned this lesson the hard way. What was an enjoyable intellectual and emotional play-acting could become deadly real as the mood of the King, and therefore the mood of the time and law, shifted.

This situation—the need for language that was vividly emotional, but topically ambiguous—was ideal for a poet like Wyatt. As Shulman shows us repeatedly, not only could any one of his poems serve as a window into more than one event in his life, his poems could also serve as windows into the lives of others and were used in this way. Wyatt's poems were copied out by hand, passed among courtiers, used as occasional pieces, with minor modifications as needed. That interpretive plasticity is what made Wyatt so popular. Whatever a courtier was feeling, there was a Wyatt poem that covered it.

One of Shulman's central claims is that Henry's court was so dangerous because Henry himself took love so seriously. Others played at courtly gestures; Henry lived them. This meant that when one of his wives fell from grace, all those around her were at risk as well because they all had, as courtiers did at the time, engaged in badinage that suddenly could be taken literally.

For those inclined to explore the sort of musings Shulman offers, this book is a delight throughout. It enables one to imagine life under Henry in a way that standard histories do not. If you currently think of Wyatt as an unimportant figure or his poetry as inconsequential, you'll have reconsidered that thinking by the end of the book.

This book is a delight not just because of its intelligence, but also because of Shulman's knack for finding slightly whimsical, but perfectly apt, ways of describing people and situations. Catherine of Aragon had "a little pointed chin like a lemon." She characterizes the continental linguists of the era as perceiving "English in its current state... [as] a shaggy and hopalong means of expression." At one point, in a comparison I find more entertaining than accurate, Shulman depicts Henry as "sincere in all his doings. If he were alive today, he'd be Canadian." In other words, reading this book isn't just interesting, it's fun.

*****

In the interests of full disclosure, I will acknowledge that I received an electronic review copy of this book, but I don't think that influenced my evaluation of it.
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Signalé
Sarah-Hope | 3 autres critiques | Dec 6, 2013 |
I originally was excited by this title, for I am a bit of a Tudor junkie, and find the machinations and intrigue of the court to be an interesting study of human behavior. To add in the poetry of Wyatt: placing the poems into the context of their crafting was just too good an opportunity to pass up.

Most poetry of this time was highly contextualized, and was not meant to stand the test of time, so deeper examination of the Tudor court, with the author’s ability to separate fact from fiction, and present the information in a format that is pleasant to read and that does serve its contextual purpose for the poems that are included.

While the book starts off with quite a bang, focus on the poetry and commentary provided by Wyatt through his poems documents the events in court; gossip, flirtations, intrigue and petty jealousies that are not documented in the more specialized record of diplomatic or court appointment books. However, Shulman does include this information in a way that only people familiar with Henry VIII’s habit of lopping off heads can enjoy.

Sadly, the book does tail off as Wyatt’s short life comes to an inglorious end as he dies quite young, even for the time, at 39. In the few years prior, we are embroiled in Wyatt’s attempts at diplomacy and espionage, and the sharp and well defined tone when poetry was at the forefront does diminish. The text reads far more ponderously and isn’t as well integrated with the bits of gossip or intrigue.

All in all, this is a very enjoyable book for the most part: the genius interweaving of the poetry and the context, finding specific stanzas and pieces of the poems that are oft quoted, reused and twisted as they pass from person to person in whispers and giggles. Shulman has a knack for bringing the past to life, and has accomplished that with few missteps.

I received an eBook copy from the publisher via Eidelweiss for purpose of honest review on I am, Indeed. I was not compensated for this review. All conclusions are my own responsibility.
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Signalé
IamIndeed | 3 autres critiques | Mar 29, 2013 |
Very good, very well-written, clever without being irritating.
½
 
Signalé
annesadleir | 3 autres critiques | Feb 11, 2012 |

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Œuvres
3
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133
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