Tottel's Miscellany (1557), originally Songes and Sonettes, is an anthology of English poetry published by Richard Tottel. It printed for the first time the poems of Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, and brought the sonnet to a wide English readership.
The anthology
Published in London on 5 June 1557 by the printer Richard Tottel, the book contained 271 poems in its first edition: about forty by Surrey, ninety-seven by Wyatt, some by Nicholas Grimald and many by unnamed authors.
It was the first printed anthology of English poetry and was reprinted at least nine times before 1587.
Editing Wyatt
The editor regularised Wyatt's often rough metre to make it smoother, and gave the poems descriptive titles. Modern editors have returned to Wyatt's manuscripts.
They flee from me, one of Wyatt's best-known poems, appears in the miscellany under the title The lover sheweth how he is forsaken of such as he sometime enjoyed.
Influence
The book spread the sonnet and the new courtly lyric among readers, and prepared the way for Sidney, Spenser and Shakespeare.
In The Merry Wives of Windsor, Shakespeare's Slender wishes he had his 'Book of Songs and Sonnets' with him, an allusion to Tottel's book.
Anecdotes
Shakespeare's allusion
In The Merry Wives of Windsor, the foolish Slender wants his 'Book of Songs and Sonnets' to help him court Anne Page, a sign of the anthology's popularity.
Smoothing the lines
Tottel's editor changed many of Wyatt's lines to give them a regular rhythm, which for centuries made Wyatt seem more polished than he really was.
Frequently asked questions
What is Tottel's Miscellany?
The first printed anthology of English poetry, published in 1557 as Songes and Sonettes.
Whose poems does it contain?
Thomas Wyatt, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, Nicholas Grimald and many anonymous poets.
Why is it important?
It introduced the sonnet and the new lyric to a wide readership and influenced the Elizabethan poets.