Week 2 - Wyatt, Surrey, and More, Esq.

Perhaps this blog entry would be slightly easier if reading poetry didnt make me want to eat an anthrax-powdered donut. But it does. That aside, one thing I noticed immediately about the works of Wyatt and Surrey was the angsty, "woe-is-me" tone both authors implemented. I'm sure if Wyatt and Surrey were around today they would wear very skinny jeans and listen to My Chemical Romance and maybe even wear eyeliner. Many of the poems ("Forget not yet" and "I find no peace" for example) are overdramatic in nature, and try to evoke some sort of passion in the reader, an impossible task considering the rather unispiring words of the authors. "Look at my problems. My life sucks right?" seems to be the general vibe coming from both Wyatt and Surrey. Unfortunately for them, the reader cannot be too sympathetic with their problems. Their problems arent real problems, or at least arent as big of a deal as the authors make them out to be. I did find it interesting, however, that perhaps the most impassioned poem of the bunch was Surrey's "So cruel prison," a romanticized recollection of his childhood. In this poem, a woman was not the source of his passion (which may not even be the right word considering he wasnt very passionate in those poems), but instead, his childhood friend, the nephew of the king. Surrey seems to speak genuinely in this poem, and his glorification of the "bromance" can be tied to a broader social trend entrenched in Renaissance Europe. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that one of the guys (Wyatt maybe?) had a creepy obsession with lutes. What the hell was that about?I have already become long winded. Poetry just gets me all worked up I suppose. Saint Thomas More was, among other things, a very respected court member, devoted Catholic, and a passionate scholar. After he defeated Satan in a game of Chutes and Ladders, he found time to write "Utopia," an incredibly influential tome that undoubtedly left its imprint on history. One thing that I found intriguing about "Utopia" was the almost heretical nature of some of More's principals. As a devout Christian, it is bewildering to see him speak so freely about the topics of divorce and euthanasia, to name a few. It is equally as perplexing to see him speak of people worshipping the moon and the sun, clearly at odds with Catholic doctrine. Another thing i found to be interesting was the communistic lifestyle that Utopians lead, minus the vodka. There was no private ownership in Utopia, with the people seeing themselves as tenants of the land rather than owners. One question out of the many that arise after reading this work is this: why did More write this? What was his overlying goal? Why did I just ask two questions when I clearly indicated that I only meant to ask one? Maybe he was trying to stimulate social awareness and change in his native England. Maybe he was upset at society and was voicing his righteous anger in a satirical way (just in case). Whatever the case, "Utopia" was clearly an important work, both then and now.