The Penguin Book of the Sonnet: 500 Years of a Classic Tradition in English [Paperback]

Phillis Levin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2001

One of the oldest literary forms of the post-classical world, the sonnet has engaged nearly every well-known poet writing in a Western language. This collection reveals how each writer, from William Wordsworth to Wilfred Owen, met the challenge of transforming an inherited pattern of convention. The result is a living conversation between past and present. In her introduction, Levin traces the origins of the sonnet back to Italy, and follows its development from the Elizabethan era to the Romantic and Victorian, later discussing its popularity among the poets of the Great War.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

From Chaucer and (100-plus years later) Wyatt and Surrey to John Ashbery, June Jordan and Louise Glock, The Penguin Book of the Sonnet: 500 Years of a Classic Tradition in English shows just how compelling 14 lines with varying (or no) rhyme scheme have been to poets working in the English language. Phillis Levin (Mercury; Forecasts, Mar. 12) has picked more than 600 poems for the collection, and while many of them are from the 20th century, most of those here don't hold a candle (or a florescent tube) to their forebears. Notes on the poets help further distinguish Dick Allen (b. 1939) from Matthew Arnold.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This compact text is a biography of the sonnet as composed in English. In an introductory essay, Levin (Temples and Fields; creative writing, Hofstra Univ.) discusses the sonnet's origins, history, traditions, and possibilities, including its use by poets of the Harlem Renaissance and veterans of World War I as a form of protest. Interwoven with the history are approaches to interpreting and criticizing this poetic form. The bulk of the text is an anthology of over 600 sonnets composed by more than 230 poets. Over 150 of the poets represented wrote during the 20th century. The text is enriched with an appendix covering sonnet patterns and variations, brief biographies of the poets, a list of additional readings, and indexes of authors, titles, and first lines. No recent publication on sonnets has included such a broad spectrum of sonnet writers or attempted to present so complete a history of the sonnet. Recommended for all public and academic libraries. Shana C. Fair, Ohio Univ., Zanesville
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 526 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (November 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140589295
• ISBN-13: 978-0140589290
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #176,837 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Definitive Collection of Sonnets Down the Ages, February 11, 2010

By 

John Wareham "Author, "The President's Th... (New York) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Penguin Book of the Sonnet: 500 Years of a Classic Tradition in English (Paperback)

If you're a sonnet lover, this is a must-have for your collection. It is a wonderful tome to while away the hours,and savor through the years. The anthologist's preface is extremely helpful, and every sonneteer worthy of note down the the ages is included. It was in fact, while perusing these pages on a gloomy Sunday that I became fully aware of two particularly racy sonnets by Edna St. Vincent Millay, and decided to include my Sonnets for Sinners: Everything One Needs to Know About Illicit Love (which, alas,one critic complained is only one part anthology--the rest being self-help).

9 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A worthy collection of sonnets in English, December 29, 2006

By 

Dr. F. S. Ledgister "FSJ Ledgister" (Atlanta Ga) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Penguin Book of the Sonnet: 500 Years of a Classic Tradition in English (Paperback)

The sonnet begins when a fine man of law
devised the structure of a little song;
a genre that, while definitely not long,
could say a lot -- indeed entirely more
than any ballad sung by troubadour.
Journeys to far lands have made it strong,
and many fine companies it has been among;
its makers are the ones who know the score.
Shakespeare and Milton, Wordsworth and Millay,
Longfellow, Whittier, that transcendental lot,
a host of other poets have used the form;
it's a surprising, yet quite lovely way
to take some flowers, fit them in tiny pot,
and in this way create a wondrous norm.

10 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sonnets great and less so, December 31, 2005

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Penguin Book of the Sonnet: 500 Years of a Classic Tradition in English (Paperback)

THE SONNET IN OLD AGE

If to the sessions of sweet silent thought
one summons memories of sonnets long reread in mind
unsprings the blasted lyrics Time has left unpaged
dreams of other nights and other days
in quiet places long since lost in youth
where little lines embodied- Glory, Beauty, Truth.

Then Shakespeare Donne Keats,
Hopkins Milton Wordsworth Yeats
obscuring lesser names and smaller shades
inspire with dearer dearer life
tranquillity's reflection
in old age
Consoling our last moments
in God's praise.