Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey 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 the succession. His poetry reflects that world, in its idealisation 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 Petrarchan 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.

Volume editor: Dennis Keene