Today's #Tudor #poem is from Edmund Spenser's sonnet sequence, "Amoretti", tracing a courtship (possibly autobiographical). This one deals with a common theme, the transience of physical beauty against the longer life of the inner self. 1/ #love #poetry #Tudor

Now Sir Walter Raleigh's response, "The Nymph's Reply". It echoes the form and structure of Marlowe's poem, but it's bad news for the would-be seducing shepherd: the nymph isn't buying his pastoral idyll one bit! She brings him down to earth with a heavy bump. #Tudor #nature #poetry

Two connected poems for today's Tudor choice: first, this idyll by Christopher Marlowe, more famous for his plays (and for his violent death, possibly an assassination). Here, Marlowe contributes to the Elizabethan appetite for pastoral escape. 1/ #Tudor #nature #poetry

I began my weekly #sundaysonnet with Sir Thomas Wyatt, so this week I'm sticking with the #Tudor #poets. Today, this gem, again by Wyatt. Look at how the focus shifts from the wild animals (perhaps deer) who flee from him, to the woman he has likewise rejected him. 1/ #Tudor #lovepoetry

For my first #SundaySonnet, I'm going back to the form's first appearance in English poetry, by Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-42). He imported it from the Italian poet, Petrarch (1304-74), and it swiftly became popular in the world of Henry VIII's court. 1/

Finishing this week's focus on old Scots ballads with 'The Twa Corbies' (two crows) in which the crows discuss where to find their dinner; one suggests a newly slain knight in a ditch, "And naebody kens that he lies there, But his hawk, his hound, and lady fair." 1/ #poetry #Scotland #ballads

Another favourite old Scots ballad is 'Edward'. Through the Q&A form between mother and son, the story reveals that Edward committed patricide. The mother's first question is: "Why does your brand sae drap wi' bluid?" (Why is your sword dripping with blood?) 1/

"The king sits in Dunfermline town Drinking the blood-red wine" The opening of 'Sir Patrick Spens' and as openings go, it's hard to beat. Yet this anonymous Scots poet was probably illiterate, his ballad created to be sung and passed along. What command of imagery and rhythm he had. 1/ #poetry