Question

Which of Sir Thomas Wyatt's poems speaks of escaping the corruption of King Henry?

Accepted Answer

I think you are probably referring to Thomas Wyatt's poem "Mine own John Poynz." In this poem, which takes an epistolary form, as a letter to a friend, Wyatt explains why he has chosen to go home and "flee the press of courts." He explains that he no longer wishes to "live thrall" beneath the eyes of "lordly" people. He does not, he says, "scorn" the power of the important men at court, but he does state that he has less "esteem" for them than he does for "common" people.
Wyatt goes on to say that he cannot "do so great a wrong / To worship them." His depiction of those at court is condemnatory: they are "as wolves"; they "make deceit a pleasure" and to stay in court is to "with innocent blood... feed myself fat." Wyatt's reference to Caesar, in this poem, as in others, seems to be an allusion to King Henry. Wyatt's poem continues to suggest that there is hypocrisy alive in court, where one lie is believed over an obvious truth, simply because it better fits the purposes of the court. While at court the "double face" tendency is to take the "nearest virtue" as a means of pretending away all the other recent vices, Wyatt says that he is unable to learn how to live like this. Rather, in order to maintain his honor and remain a Christian man, Wyatt is choosing to take himself away to "Kent and Christendom," the suggestion being that the corrupt court lies outside the bounds of Christendom.
Wyatt wrote many poems which are of historical interest because of the insight they offer onto the court of Henry VIII. Another of his, "Innocentia Veritas Viat Fides Circumdederunt me inimici mei," is thought to have been composed upon the execution of Anne Boleyn, with whom Wyatt was reportedly in love.

Answer

Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542) was a prolific poet in the early sixteenth century. He is credited with introducing the Italian (Petrarchan) sonnet to English literature. As your question suggests, however, Wyatt spent most of his adult life in the service of Henry VIII either as a courtier or a diplomat. He fell afoul of King Henry fairly early in his career.
Wyatt wrote two poems that explore the dangers and corruption of court life. One details his general discontent with life as a diplomat in Henry's service, "Mine own John Poynz," and one focuses on the consequences of belonging to Henry VIII's court, "Innocentia Veritas Viat Fides Circumdederunt me inimici mei." Of the two poems, the one that deals directly with Henry's court, and the consequences of living in it, is "Innocentia," loosely translated as "Innocence Truth (Wyatt) Honor--[despite these]--my enemies surround me," most likely an allusion to Psalms 16:9 ("My enemies surround my soul"). One of Wyatt's enduring works is his paraphrase of the biblical Psalms, and it is natural for him to allude to the Psalms in one of his most intimate poems.
In 1536, when Henry VIII decided to replace Anne Boleyn with another, more fertile, wife, Thomas Wyatt was accused of being one of Boleyn's lovers and was jailed in the Bell Tower within the Tower of London fortress. While incarcerated, Wyatt may have witnessed the execution of Anne Boleyn and several of her alleged lovers in May 1536. The poem "Innocentia" is thought to be an account of that experience and records Wyatt's view of Henry's court and the consequences of being attached to it.
The poem begins as an objective advisory to anyone who wishes to ascend the ranks of courtly life:

Who list his wealth and ease retain,Himself let him unknown contain.Press not too fast in at that gateWhere the return stands by disdain,for sure, circa Regna tonat.

Wyatt warns the potential courtier that if he wants to keep his wealth and freedom, he should avoid Henry's court because he will be received with disrespect. More important, the throne—Henry—is surrounded by thunder, an allusion to Seneca's play Phaedra. This reference ends each stanza, reinforcing one of the main points—this court is ruled by thunder, a symbol of Henry's changeable and volatile nature, not with reason or good governance.
Wyatt's second stanza more fully explores the difference between choosing a lowly life, "mild and soft," and the courtly life, where "the fall is grievous from aloft." Wyatt sees many members of the court come to ruin as a result of the tumult (tonat) that infuses one of the most powerful, and most changeable, monarchs in English history. Wyatt's own experience—within Henry's inner circle one day and in jail the next—exemplifies the danger facing any courtier in Henry's service.
In the third stanza, the diction changes completely. Gone is the objective advice; in its place are intimate reflections of the horror that Wyatt is experiencing in his incarceration:

These bloody days have broken my heart.My lust, my youth did them depart,And blind desire of estate.Who hastes to climb seeks to revert.

Wyatt confirms that his nature has changed utterly. What he has witnessed has broken his heart, killed his love of life, and ended his ambition. He is clearly warning his reader that attempting to rise in Henry's court will result in complete devastation of one's being. One's only wish, after this experience, is to climb back down the ladder of success to the valley of anonymity referenced in the second stanza.
Wyatt's diction shifts to an even more visceral level in the fourth stanza when he places the reader in his cell in the Bell Tower:

The Bell tower showed me such sightThat in my head sticks day and night.There did I learn out of a grate,For all favour, glory, or might,That yet circa Regna tonat.

Placing the reader in his jail cell as he watches the horrific execution of Anne Boleyn and her "co-conspiritors," Wyatt creates a scene that depicts the real consequences of rising and falling in Henry's court. The reader, along with Wyatt, is looking out of a grate made from iron bars at the beheading of a group of people whose only mistake is trying to rise in the world. They have aligned themselves with a monarch who cares only for his own happiness and success. Thunder is not surrounding Henry; Henry is the thunder.
Using an interesting nautical metaphor, Wyatt ends the poem by advising his readers to "bear [away] low" and give "God the stern." This means to give Henry a rear view and sail away quietly from the court, which is still "for sure" surrounded by Henry's thunder. The poem is meant to be an apologia, an explanation of Wyatt's incarceration. More important, it is an indictment of courtly ambition that leads people, especially in a corrupt court, to disaster.

Answer

Sir Thomas Wyatt served in the royal court of Henry VIII. His poem "Whoso List to Hunt," was written sometime in the late 1520s or early 1530s. The subject of the poem is thought to be Anne Boleyn, who was then being courted by Henry VIII.
In the poem, the poet describes a hunt in which a deer is the prey. The poem is believed to be a reference to Henry VIII’s pursuit of Anne Boleyn. The poet refers to the deer as royal property not to be hunted by others.
It is written in the Petrarchan style, which Wyatt altered slightly. The first eight lines present a problem, which the final six lines resolve:

Whoso list to hunt: I know where is an hind.But as for me, alas I may no more:

The first two lines tell anyone who is interested to hunt – “list to hunt” – that the poet knows a hind, presumably worthy of the hunt, which could be an allusion to Anne’s shapely body and physical beauty. However, the poet can no longer hunt this deer.
She wears diamonds around her neck that proclaim “Do not touch me” because she belongs to "Caesar." Thus, even though the deer seems tame, it is too wild to hold. In other words, it would be dangerous for anyone else to pursue this deer whom Caesar, in this case metaphorically Henry VIII, has claimed.

"And graven with diamonds in letters plainThere is written her fair neck round about:'Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am,And wild for to hold, though I seem tame."

In Wyatt’s time, it could have been considered treasonous to discuss amorous feelings for a woman whom the king coveted. Moreover, Henry would eventually cause England to leave the Roman Catholic religion because of his pursuit of Anne. Many in Henry's court considered his pursuit and ultimate marriage to Anne corrupt, given that he was already married to Catherine of Aragon. Wyatt's references to Henry VIII as Caesar express his feelings about the king being a dictatorial and power-hungry leader.

Sir Thomas Wyatt

Which of Sir Thomas Wyatt's poems speaks of escaping the corruption of King Henry?

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