Skelton, John (ca. 1460-1529)

Skelton, John (ca. 1460-1529)

English poet, known for his satire, his humorous and realistic verse, and his use of short, "breathless" lines and irregular rhyme-scheme, called "Skeltonic meter." His surviving works include A Garland of Laurel, an allegorical poem, dealing with the crowning of Skelton himself as a great poet; Philip Sparrow, a lyric mourning the death of a sparrow, the pet of a young girl; Colin Clout, a satire on the abuses of the Church; The Bowge of Court, a satire in allegory on life at the English court; Magnificence, a Morality Play; The Tunning of Elinor Rumming, a coarse and humorous work, giving a realistic picture of contemporary "low life"; Why Come Ye Not to Court? and Speak, Parrot, satires on Cardinal Wolsey. Skelton received the title of Poet Laureate from both Oxford and Cambridge Universities and held an unofficial position as Laureate under Henry VIII, to whom he had served as tutor.

He was ordained a priest but spent most of his time at court, making enemies by his outspokeness. As a result of the hostility between him and Cardinal Wolsey, he was forced to seek refuge with the Abbot of Westminster, with whom he stayed virtually as a prisoner until his death.

Skelton is considered a poet of the transition between England of the Middle Ages and the Elizabethan period, writing in the tradition of Chaucer, Gower, and Lydgate and the medieval Latin poets. Interest in his work was revived in the 20th century by Robert Graves, and Skeltonic meter is parodied in the early verse of W. H. Auden.