It was during the Elizabethan age that England felt the complete effect of the Renaissance. There occurred a revival of the old and classical literature of Greece and Rome and this was manifested in the poetry of the age. The Elizabethan age was characterized by an extreme spirit of adventure, aestheticism and materialism which became the characteristic features of Elizabethan poetry. Many poets displayed their skill in versification during this time and England came to be called The Nest Of Singing Birds.

Wyatt and Surrey

In 1557 Tottel printed A Miscellany of Uncertain Authors commonly known as Tottel's Miscellany. Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503 - 42) and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517-47) made valuable contributions to this anthology. Wyatt transplanted the sonnet form from Italy to England.Both Wyatt and Surrey wrote sonnets based on the Petrarchan model, the form which immortalized by Shakespeare and Milton. They brought the theme romantic...