A Book Of The Sonnet

A Book of the Sonnet

The Art of the Sonnet

"Few poetic forms have found more uses than the sonnet in English, and none is now more recognizable. It is one of the longest-lived of verse forms, and one of the briefest. A mere fourteen lines, fashioned by intricate rhymes, it is, as Dante Gabriel Rossetti called it, "a moment's monument." From the Renaissance to the present, the sonnet has given poets a superb vehicle for private contemplation, introspection, and the expression of passionate feelings and thoughts." "The Art of the Sonnet collects one hundred exemplary sonnets of the English language (and a few sonnets in translation), representing highlights in the history of the sonnet, accompanied by short commentaries on each of the poems. The commentaries by Stephen Burt and David Mikics offer new perspectives and insights, and, taken together, demonstrate the enduring as well as changing nature of the sonnet. The authors serve as guides to some of the most-celebrated sonnets in English as well as less-well-known gems by nineteenth- and twentieth-century poets. Also included is a general introductory essay, in which the authors examine the sonnet form and its long and fascinating history, from its origin in medieval Sicily to its English appropriation in the sixteenth century to sonnet writing today in the United States, the United Kingdom, and other English-speaking parts of the world." --Book Jacket.

The Oxford Book of Sonnets

Alive and well after 450 years in English, the 14-line sonnet is perhaps the best-loved and most versatile of poetic forms. Poets ranging from Shakespeare to Alice Oswald have found it the perfect choice for the expression of intense but controlled feelings. Beginning with Wyatt and ending in the present day, The Oxford Book of Sonnets is a unique treasury of memorable sonnet reflections on love and life. In a beautiful one-poem-per-page design, Shakespeare's marriage of true minds rubs shoulders with John Davies of Herefrod's the late ABC of love, Keats' stout Cortez with Darley's Manrique. Women poets who revived the sonnet in eighteenth century are restored to prominence, and modern poets as diverse as Seamus Heaney, Carol Ann Duffy, and Simon Armitage are well represented. After an expository introduction that traces the sonnet in English from its appearance in the Tudor Court of the sixteenth century through its various historical reinterpretations and eras of popularity, 328 sonnets are arranged in order of the birth date of the poets. Thus, readers have a formidable guide to both the evolution of sonnet writing in English and the distinct voices of major and minor poets that have accepted the form's challenges and expressive power. This book also includes examples of the sonnet sequence as well as more unusual experimentation with form such as Sylvester's quadruple acrostic sonnets to his patron and Leigh Hunt's Iterating Sonnet. In addition to the aforementioned poets, this collection includes sterling works by Sir Philip Sidney, George Chapman, John Donne, Lady Mary Wroth, George Herbert, John Milton, Aphra Behn, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, Matthew Arnold, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Christina Rossetti, Thomas Hardy, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Oscar Wilde, William Butler Yeats, Robert Frost, Siegrfried Sassoon, Edna St Vincent Millay, Aldous Huxley, Dylan Thomas, Derek Walcott, Seamus Heaney, and many more