This study focuses primarily on the work of two successful courtier poets - Sir Thomas Wyatt (c. 1503-1542) and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517-1547). Their poetry is considered in the contexts of their careers, of the writings of contemporaries, and the political and social conditions within which they lived. Within such contexts, it becomes clear that the lightest court song is often freighted with complex significance, while the poems of plain speaking reflection prove to be wily approximations of the truth.