Courtesy and personal conduct are key in Sir Thomas Wyatt's "Mine Own Jon Poins" and in the Earl of Surrey's "So cruel a prison how could betide....

Wyatt may be best known for bringing the Italian sonnet to
England; or for false charges against him when Henry VIII decided to execute Anne
Boleyn. The King named several men as lovers, among them Wyatt, unfairly accused and
killed with Anne.

Wyatt's writings were linked with Henry
Howard, Earl of Surrey, as seen in the book entitled, The Works of Henry
Howard, Earl of Surrey, and of Sir Thomas Wyatt, the Elder, printed in London
by T. Bensley, in 1816. In this book, it is noted that Wyatt counted John Poins as a
good friend; his poem takes issue life in at court in
London.

In his poem, Wyatt has many concerns, and they
relate to "courtesy and personal conduct." In his writing to Poins, he says he is
leaving London—returning to the country. (It was not uncommon for people to have a home
in London and in the country; among other things, the country
provided distance from politics and intrigue at court.)

In
his poem, "Mine Own Jon Poins," Wyatt speaks clearly, telling Poins that he cannot
remain in London to watch things take place with which he disagrees—and say nothing.
Wyatt states that he cannot, e.g., worship the gods of old and turn his back on the
Almighty God, silent while others do:

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I cannot honour them that sets their
part
With Venus and Bacchus all their life long;
Nor hold my peace
of them although I smart.
I cannot crouch nor kneel to do so great a
wrong,
To worship them, like God on earth
alone...

By the poem's end,
he explains that he will not remain in a place such as where Christ was betrayed for
money, power, etc., as in Rome, but that Wyatt can be judged by
his actions in Kent where he innocently writes—if Poins cares to
visit.

Nor I
am not where Christ is given in prey
For money, poison, and treason at
Rome--...
But here I am in Kent and Christendom
Among the Muses
where I read and rhyme;
Where if thou list, my Poinz, for to
come,
Thou shalt be judge how I do spend my
time.

Henry Howard was a good
friend of Wyatt's; together they are considered the "fathers of the English
sonnet."

While
Wyatt introduced the sonnet into English, it was Surrey who gave them the rhyming meter
and the division into quatrains that now characterizes the sonnets variously named
English, Elizabethan
or Shakespearean
sonnets.

However, Surry's
fate would be no better than Wyatt's—he would be executed because
of Henry VIII's paranoia that Howard was involved in a plot to steal the throne—also
false charges.

In his poem, "So cruel a prison, how could
betide," Howard recalls all of the fun he had with carousing, hunting and various
entertainments, as he sits imprisoned, drawing small comfort from his memories as he
waits to die. He seems to reflect on the importance of courtesy and personal conduct too
late.

Thus I
alone, where all my freedom grew,

In prison pine, with
bondage and restraint:

And with remembrance of the greater
grief,

To banish the less, I find my chief
relief.

These are the real
experiences of two men. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, we read
a poem based upon the idealization of a knight committed to "courtesy and personal
conduct." Gawain offers courtesy to his hostess, Bertilak's wife,
who tempts him; his personal conduct requires that he return what
he has received each day to his host, and that he avoids the seductions of his hostess;
he finally presents himself for possible death at the Green Knight's hands, as a true
knight.

Additional
Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Howard,_Earl_of_Surrey