Selected Poems (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

Pierre Ronsard (Author), Malcolm Quainton (Translator), Elizabeth Vinestock (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 29, 2002

One of France's most influential love poets, Pierre de Ronsard embraced a variety of themes from politics, science, and philosophy to bawdy and risqué material that outraged religious reformers. Drawing on classical and Italian poetic models and on powerful imagery from ancient mythology, Ronsard created verse that revolutionized the French poetic tradition. His style ranges from the sublime rhetoric of the Pindaric odes and hymns to the lyricism and sensuality of his sonnets. Ronsard's poetry has influenced many twentieth-century writers and artists, including W. B. Yeats, Sylvia Plath, and Henri Matisse. The dual-language format of this new edition provides English-speaking readers with an enhanced perspective on one of the most innovative voices in the history of European poetry.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: French, English --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Pierrre de Ronsard (1524-1585) was the leader of the Pléiade group of poets. He is most famous for his odes and his later sonnet sequences, which were a great influence on the English sonnet writers of the sixteenth century.

Malcolm Quainton is professor of French at Lancaster University. He is the author of Distant Voices Still Heard, with John O'Brien.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (October 29, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140424245
• ISBN-13: 978-0140424249
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #604,372 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An extremely helpful edition!, April 18, 2003

By 

Joshua N. Wiley (Nashport, OH United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Selected Poems (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

Quainton & Vinestock have produced an extremely helpful edition of Ronsard. From his hundreds and hundreds of poems, they excerpt 85, presenting French text complete with running English translation and relatively complete endnotes. Moreoever, their edition includes a long, robust introduction and a helpful appendix on metre. This book is, in my view, a model of the way in which Romance literature ought to be presented for Anglos. Indeed, the production and design of the volume reminds one almost more of one of the newer Loebs or of the I Tatti Renaissance Library!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Happy is the man who suffers the pains of love.", May 10, 2005

By 

G. Merritt (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Selected Poems (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

French poet, Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585), observed that "it is through the Senses that the soul sees, that it hears and that it imagines" (p. 47; 38(L); "Le Premiere Livre des Sonnets pour Helene". Ronsard wrote revolutionary love poetry known for its powerful imagery (drawn from ancient mythology) and sublime sensuality. His influences are evident in the later, twentieth-century work of Yeats, Sylvia Plath, and Henri Matisse.

The 85 selected poems in this outstanding edition of Ronsard are presented to the reader in a French-English format, together with an informative Introduction by editors Quainton and Vinestock, a Chronology of Ronsard's life and work, and impressive Endnotes. The verse in this collection will appeal to anyone who enjoys memorable love poetry.

G. Merritt