its values, particularly “WHO LIST HIS WEALTH AND EASE
RETAIN,” and the epistolary SATIREs including “MINE
OWN JOHN POINS.”
See also COURT CULTURE.
FURTHER READING
Muir, Kenneth. Life and Letters of Sir Thomas Wyatt. Liver-
pool: Liverpool University Press, 1963.
Rebholz, R. A., ed. Sir Thomas Wyatt: The Complete Poems.
New Haven, and Conn., and London: Yale University
Press, 1978.
Christopher A. Hill
STANZA From the Italian for “room” or “stopping
place,” a stanza is a group of verse lines, usually set off
in print by space between the stanzas. The structure of
any given stanza is determined by its rhyme scheme,
meter, and/or number of lines; poems will generally
maintain the same stanza structure throughout. Stan-
dard English stanza forms include the COUPLET (two
lines ending in the same rhyme), heroic couplet (IAM-
BIC PENTAMETER meter, same rhyme), tercet (three lines
with the same rhyme), QUATRAIN (four lines), BALLAD (a
quatrain with an abab or abcb rhyme), heroic quatrain
(iambic pentameter, abab), RHYME ROYAL (iambic pen-
tameter, ababbcc), and Spenserian (based on The FAERIE
QUEENE, eight lines of iambic pentameter plus one of
iambic hexameter). SIR THOMAS WYATT is credited with
introducing several Italian stanzaic forms, such as terza
rima and ottava rima, into English practice. Stanza is
often used interchangeably with STROPHE.
FURTHER READING
Addison, Catherine. “Little Boxes: The Effects of the Stanza
on Poetic Narrative.” Style 37, no. 2 (2003): 124–143.
Solopova, Elizabeth. “Layout, Punctuation, and Stanza
Patterns in the English Verse.” In Studies in the Harley
Manuscript: The Scribes, Contents, and Social Contexts of
British Library MS Harley 2253, edited by Susanna Fein,
377–389. Kalamazoo, Mich.: Medieval Institute, Western
Michigan University, 2000.
Carol E. Harding
ST. ERKENWALD ANONYMOUS (1380–1420)
This 352-line poem relates the discovery of a rosy-
cheeked, fresh-faced, talking corpse buried in the
foundation of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. The
poem begins with a brief account of how all the ancient
heathen temples of London were destroyed and then
rebuilt as early Christian churches under the direction
of Augustine of Canterbury in the late sixth century.
After this short history, the poem jumps forward in
time by 100 years. The bishop of London, Saint Erken-
wald, is continuing the work of his predecessor and
has ordered a foundation dug for St. Paul’s Cathedral.
The workers dig so deep that they unearth an elabo-
rately carved, marble sarcophagus, ringed by illegible,
gilded, runic letters. Word of the discovery quickly
spreads, and Londoners gather around the workmen
as they pry the lid off the casket. Inside they fi nd the
perfectly preserved body of man who is dressed like a
king, wearing a crown, and holding a scepter. No
record is found of his rule, however, and the city
buzzes with speculation about just who the unusual
stranger might have been while he was alive. London’s
bishop, Erkenwald, is visiting an abbey in a neighbor-
ing town as these events unfold, but as soon as he hears
what is going on, he immediately returns to London on
horseback.
Erkenwald does not go straight to see the body when
he arrives in the city, however. He shuts himself in a
room in his palace instead and spends the night weep-
ing and praying for guidance. The Holy Spirit responds
to his pleas, and Erkenwald, dressed in his priestly
robes, sings High Mass as dawn breaks. Only after he
has fi nished leading mass does Erkenwald approach
the tomb. One of the other church offi cials explains
that even after seven days of scouring the city records,
they are still not able to identify the man lying before
them. The church offi cial marvels at how such an obvi-
ously important fi gure could slip so completely out of
public memory. Bishop Erkenwald reminds him that
what men fi nd remarkable pales in comparison to the
wonders of Christ; then he turns his attention to the
tomb. He lifts up the corpse’s eyelids and commands
him, in the name of Christ, to identify himself. The
body begins to speak, saying it must obey the will of
God. The dead man explains that he is neither a king
nor a noble, but a judge. He says he was always even-
handed in the administration of the law and that his
temperance healed a bitter feud between the king ofST. ERKENWALD 425