Skelton, John

(?1460-1529)

   Tudor poet whose poetic style of short rhyming lines, based on natural speech rhythms, has been given the name of Skeltonics. Possibly from Diss, Norfolk, he studied at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge and was academic poet laureate in rhetoric at both universities. He was court poet to Henry VII and tutor to the Duke of York, the future king. He was made rector of Diss in 1498, royal orator, and adviser to Henry VIII on church and public affairs. He died at Westminster and was buried in the chancel of St. Margaret's Church. His principal poems: The Bowge of Courte, a satire on the court of Henry VII; Phyllyp Sparrowe, possibly the origin of Who Killed Cock Robin?; Ware the Hawke, an angry attack on a priest who had flown his hawk into Skelton's church; Ballad of the Scottysshe Kynge, written in 1513 after the Battle of Flodden; and Collyn Clout (see also Spenser, Edmund). Some of his poems: "A Lytell Ragge of Rethorike," "Knolege, Aquayntance, Resort, Fauour with Grace," "Magnyfycence, a Goodly Interlude," "Though Ye Suppose All Jeperdys Ar Paste."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). English Renaissance Poetry: A Collection of Shorter Poems from Skelton to Jonson. John Williams, ed. University of Arkansas, 1990. The National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources (http://library.stanford.edu). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Complete Poems of John Skelton. Philip Henderson, ed. J.M. Dent and Sons, Ltd., 1948. The New Oxford Book of Sixteenth Century Verse. Emrys Jones, ed. Oxford University Press, 1991. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 5th ed. Vol. 2, M.H. Abrams, ed. W.W. Norton, 1986. The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1918. Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. New edition, revised and enlarged, Oxford University Press, 1939. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. The Penguin Book of English Christian Verse. Peter Levi, ed. Penguin Books, 1984.