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

W. A. Sessions (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 22, 2003

The first comprehensive biography of Henry Howard, this 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 reveal the unique life of the first Renaissance courtier and a poet who wrote and created radically new forms (such as the English sonnet and blank verse).

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...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 superior to any of its limited predecessors and through its careful delineation of Surrey's life and literature reenacts the dialectic of self and history that Sessions finds in the poet earl.... [The] degree to which Sessions succeeds on the merits of his book must not be underestimated. It is difficult to catalogue the riches he presents."--Sixteenth Century Journal

"William Session's biography of the Earl of Surrey is one of the richest books on early modern England that I have read. It offers not only a comprehensive account of Surrey's life but also a profound meditation on the decline of the English aristocracy during the reign of Henry VIII.... The local virtues of Session's biography are almost too numerous to tally. Sessions does a particularly fine job of situating Surrey's story in a broader European context."--John Watkins, The Spenser Review

"The achievement of Session's fine biography is to remind us that what matters about human beings in this world lies in the realms of morality and imagination...[Sessions] looks at the incidents of the poet's life and the poems associated with his personal losses and political struggles from a variety of perspectives. Political and social history, semiotics, and feminist theory are all invoked to gain a purchase on the mysterious life of this man who was a soldier, a courtier, and apparently a devoted husband as well as a poet in a treacherous and violent age; and there is no doubt that the effort enhances our sense of both the writer and his work."--South Atlantic Review

"This is a stimulating book that succeeds in setting both Surrey and his work in the times that made them.... The range of sources Sessions considers and the range of skills he brings to bear on their interpretation are consistently impressive."--Albion

"Reveals a Surrey far more complex than previously depicted...carefully argued." Renaissance Quarterly

About the Author

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

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (May 22, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198186258
• ISBN-13: 978-0198186250
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,671,387 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An extraordinary view of the life of a noble Tudor poet., September 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Henry Howard, the Poet Earl of Surrey: A Life (Hardcover)

The Earl of Surrey was the co-founder, along with Sir Thomas Wyatt, of modern English poetry; the whole procession from Spenser and Shakespeare down to Yeats and Eliot starts with Surrey and Wyatt. Surrey's most notable contributions were the creation of English blank verse and the development of the English sonnet from Italian models; without Surrey we should not have Shakespeare as we know him. Surrey was also a distinguished soldier and a loving husband, who was executed for treason at age twenty-nine.

The nineteenth century produced two excellent lives of Surrey, those of G. F. Nott and Edmond Bapst, the latter in French. The twentieth century had not done so well, as the principal accomplishment of Surrey's 1938 biographer, Edwin Casady, was translating Bapst's discoveries into English. William Sessions swings the balance the other way, his Henry Howard, the Poet Earl of Surrey being a magnificent tour of Surrey's life, his poetry, and his world.

Sessions offers the first fully integrated biography of Surrey, addressing his art, family, society, culture, religion, travels, and military career. The book is based on a massive amount of research, both archival and geographical, for Sessions visited virtually every site of importance in Surrey's life. The illustrations alone, some never published before or not properly identified, almost justify the cost of the book.

Sessions corrects many key facts of Surrey's unevenly documented career. He shows, for example, that Surrey was a moderate Protestant, whereas Nott, Bapst, and Casady simply assume that Surrey shared their own religious views--an approach complicated by the fact that Nott was a Protestant while the other two were Catholics. Getting Surrey's religion straight is absolutely essential to understanding a short life spent at the center of the escalating violence of the early Reformation. Finally, Sessions uses the full texts of the original documents concerning Surrey's downfall (instead of reading the published summaries), thereby untangling much of the mystery that occurred amid the religious strife, dynastic uncertainty, and naked ambition at the end of the reign of Henry VIII.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding work by famous scholar, March 23, 2004

By 

"behenryv" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Henry Howard, the Poet Earl of Surrey: A Life (Hardcover)

I had the privilege of being Dr. William A. Sessions' research assistant at Georgia State University, and I have never seen, before or since, a work of such outstanding scholarly research written in his unique style of combining scholarship with human insight -- making this work accessible to all, and extremely useful to the academic community. It is a fascinating story, well told--possibly the first academic "page-turner." This important biography is written with such insight and so compellingly one cannot put it down. It is an extraordinary work by a brilliant scholar who is also a marvelous writer.