The Italian Influence in English Poetry: From Chaucer to Southwell

If poetry was the fashionable mode of expression in Tudor England, 'Great Italy', as Shakespeare called her, was the land of predilection for Englishmen. They looked to Italy for lessons in philosophy, good breeding, in the art of civilization and the art of government. Englishmen travelled to Italy and lived as students in Padua; Italian Protestants came to England-Vermigli, Gentili, Florio, Bruno. The commerce in politics, religion, court life, manners and the things of the intellect was ...