Henry Howard, the Poet Earl of Surrey: A Life [Paperback]

..".an ambitious, sprawling biography....[a] major achievement in historical biography and literary history.... Both for its thorough study of Surrey's life and legacy, and for the bold enterprise of its aims and methods, Henry Howard, the Poet Earl of Surrey is necessary reading for scholars of the Tudor period."--Moreana

"Intriguing...gives ample analysis of Surrey's verse and its importance to English letters...[Sessions attempts] to write more than just a literary biography, he wants to re-create the mentalite of Surrey and his world"--Sewanee Review

"Sessions's new biographypersuasively redefines Surrey's importance for Renaissance literature and politics, dramatically raising the profile of this somewhat neglected figure... A rich account of Surrey's influential political ideals and poetic legacy."--Studies in English Literature 1500-1900

"This book fills a 450-year-old gap as it represents the apotheosis of Henry Howard, earl of Surrey... [It] is far superi

"Sessions weaves these materials into an exhaustive and densely-footnoted biography, as remarkable for its ambition as for its resounding success..." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

"far superior to any of its limited predecessors It is difficult to catalogue the riches he presents sets Surrey and his writing on a wide stage, just where early Tudor lives and literature belong." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

"W. A. Sessions's splendid new biography, Henry Howard, The Poet Earl of Surrey: A life, persuasively redefines Surrey's importance for Renaissance literature and politics, dramatically raising the profile of this somewhat neglected figure..." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

The first comprehensive biography of Henry Howard, Poet Earl of Surrey, this influential book fills a major gap in the history of early modern British culture. Sessions's narrative combines historical scholarship with close readings of poetic texts and Tudor paintings to explore Surrey's unique life. The first cousin of Queens Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard (and an influence on his young cousin the Princess Elizabeth), he was beheaded in 1547 on the orders of Henry VIII. Surrey embodied the contradictions of the courtier's role, through his standing both as a representative of the older nobility and heir to the greatest title outside the royal family, and as a poet who wrote innovative texts and created the most enduring poetic forms in England, the English sonnet and blank verse. More and more, critics and scholars have called for a more contemporary and wider assessment of his role in Tudor society. Sessions uses Surrey's redefinition of the role of Tudor courtier through his poems, his unique portraits, his military campaigns, and his political presence, to reveal how he created the first image in England of the Renaissance courtier. Surrey is also shown to embody the rather more modern image of the poet who writes and invents in the midst of radical violence.

W. A. Sessions is Regents' Professor of English, Georgia State University.