Sir Thomas Wyatt was a 16th-century English politician, ambassador, and lyric poet credited with introducing the sonnet to English literature. He was born at Allington Castle, near Maidstone, in Kent, though the family was originally from Yorkshire.
His mother was Anne Skinner, and his father, Henry Wyatt, had been a Privy Councillor of Henry VII, and remained a trusted adviser when Henry VIII ascended the throne in 1509. In his turn, Thomas Wyatt followed his father to court, after education at St John's College, Cambridge.
Although they were circulated at court, Wyatt's poems were not published during his lifetime; the first book featuring his verse, Tottel's Miscellany (1557), was printed fifteen years after his death. He died on 11 October 1542 around the age of 39, while staying with his friend Sir John Horsey at Clifton Maybank House in Dorset, southwest England.