Sonnets: From Dante to the Present (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets) [Hardcover]

John Hollander (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Everyman's Library Pocket Poets | Publication Date: March 27, 2001

"A sonnet is a moment's monument," said Dante Gabriel Rossetti in a sonnet about sonnets.

The sonnets in this collection—whether they capture moments of perception, recognition, despair, or celebration—reveal how great an amount of feeling, insight, and experience can be concentrated into a mere fourteen lines.

Here are classics such as Milton's "On His Blindness," Yeats's "Leda and the Swan," and Frost's "The Oven Bird," juxtaposed with the mischievous wit of Rupert Brooke's "Sonnet Reversed," the lyric defiance of Mona Van Duyn's "Caring for Surfaces," and the comic poignancy of Philip Larkin's "To Failure." From the lovelorn laments of Dante and Petrarch to the artful heights of Sidney, Spenser, and Shakespeare, from the masterpieces of Wordsworth and Keats to the innovations of Elizabeth Bishop, Wallace Stevens, and James Merrill, the sonnet has proved both versatile and enduring.

This delightful anthology displays the incredible range and power of the verse form that has inspired poets across the centuries.

Editorial Reviews

Review

To The Sun-dial by John Quincy Adams
Alpha And Omega by William Alabaster
On The Group Of The Three Angels Before The Tent Of Abraham, By by Washington Allston
At Night by Yehuda Amichai
West London by Matthew Arnold
Luther by Wystan Hugh Auden
The Novelist by Wystan Hugh Auden
The Flowers Of Evil: Correspondences by Charles Baudelaire
The Owls by Charles Baudelaire
Sonnet To Tartar, A Terrier Beauty by Thomas Lovell Beddoes
Home by Joachim Du Bellay
Ruined Rome by Joachim Du Bellay
The Bosses Of Rome by Giuseppe Giocchino Belli
Jubilate Deo by Old Testament Bible
Lead! by Ambrose Bierce
Sonnet by Elizabeth Bishop
To The Evening Star by William Blake
Its Origin by Nicolas Boileau-despreaux
A Forgery by George H. Boker
Compass [una Brujula] by Jorge Luis Borges
At Dover Cliffs, July 20, 1787 by William Lisle Bowles
Sonnet: 23. Netley Abbey by William Lisle Bowles
1914: 5. The Soldier by Rupert Brooke
Sonnet Reversed by Rupert Brooke
Hiram Powers' Greek Slave by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
To Cole, The Painter, Departing For Europe by William Cullen Bryant
Its Length by Robert Burns
Closing Day by Luis De Camoens
The Portrait Of A Lady by Giovanni Della Casa
Water Never The Same by Jean Baptiste Chassignet
Gipsies (1) by John Clare
Winter Walk by John Clare
Sonnet To The River Otter by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Winged Thoughts by Vittoria Colonna
Sonnet To William Wilberforce, Esquire by William Cowper
Seven Wonders Of The World: 5. The Photograph by Christopher Pearse Cranch
From The Dark Tower by Countee Cullen
To Delia: 1 by Samuel Daniel
To Delia: 45 by Samuel Daniel
To Delia: 46 by Samuel Daniel
Broken Thoughts by Dante Alighieri
Dressing Cupid by John (1569-1626) Davies
On Hope by Juana Ines De La Cruz
To Her Self-portrait by Juana Ines De La Cruz
Death Rebuked by John Donne
Microcosm by John Donne
The Soul To Her Rescuer by John Donne
Idea: 6 by Michael Drayton
Love's Farewell by Michael Drayton
My Smithy by Michael Drayton
The World by William Drummond Of Hawthornden
Sonnet: On A Family Picture by Thomas Edwards
Design by Robert Frost
Never Again Would Birds' Song Be The Same by Robert Frost
The Oven Bird by Robert Frost
Putting In The Seed by Robert Frost
The Silken Tent by Robert Frost
The Poet Talks On The Phone With His Love by Federico Garcia Lorca
Her Jewels by George Gascoigne
Visions Of The Absent by George Gascoigne
Pride Of The Fourth And Liquid Element by Luis De Gongora
On The Death Of Richard West by Thomas Gray
Benighted by Fulke Greville
This Nothing Seen by Fulke Greville
He Compares All Things With His Lady, And Finds Them Wanting by Guido Cavalcanti
Sonnet (a Rapture Concerning His Lady) by Guido Cavalcanti
The Lights Of London by Louise Imogen Guiney
High Fidelity by Thomson William Gunn
Hap by Thomas Hardy
Satires Of Circumstance. 6. In The Cemetery by Thomas Hardy
Naming The Animals by Anthony Hecht
A Lock Of Hair by Heinrich Heine
Sonnet To A.w. Von Schlegel by Heinrich Heine
Sonnet To Black It Self by Edward Herbert
Prayer (1) by George Herbert
Redemption by George Herbert
A Sonnet Sent Home From College by George Herbert
Requiem For The Plantagenet Kings by Geoffrey Hill
A Theory Of Waves by John Hollander
Sonnet: Silence by Thomas Hood
Paradise Saved by Alec Derwent Hope
Abyss by Gerard Manley Hopkins
The Sea And The Skylark by Gerard Manley Hopkins
The Windhover: To Christ Our Lord by Gerard Manley Hopkins
Accident In Art by Richard Hovey
Spring, But by Henry Howard
Under House Arrest In Windsor by Henry Howard
The Grasshopper And The Cricket by James Henry Leigh Hunt
The Nile by James Henry Leigh Hunt
The Trevi Fountain, Rome by Vyacheslav Ivanovich Ivanov
Crossed Threads by Helen Maria Hunt Fiske Jackson
October by Helen Maria Hunt Fiske Jackson
A Sonnet by Elizabeth Jennings
A Sonnet, To The Noble Lady, The Lady Mary Wroth by Ben Jonson
Last Sonnet (revised Version) by John Keats
On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer by John Keats
On The Grasshopper And Cricket by John Keats
On The Sonnet by John Keats
Sonnet by John Keats
Sonnet: The Human Seasons by John Keats
What The Thrush Seemed To Say by John Keats
Loves Of The Stars by Louise Labe
Paradoxes by Louise Labe
Restoring Life by Louise Labe
El Desdichado by Gerard Labrunie
To Failure by Philip Larkin
1492 by Emma Lazarus
Long Island Sound by Emma Lazarus
The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus
The Cross Of Snow by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The Harvest Moon; Sonnet by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Mezzo Cammin by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Ultima Thule: Night by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The Tomb Of Poe by Stephane Mallarme
Burning Together by Giambattista Marini
Kilim by Joseph Donald Mcclatchy
The Lynching by Claude Mckay
Lucifer In Starlight by George Meredith
Modern Love: 30 by George Meredith
The Broken Home, Sels. by James Ingram Merrill
The Broken Home, Sels. by James Ingram Merrill
The Impeachment Of Night by Michelangelo Buonarroti
To Giovanni Da Pistoia On The Painting Of The Sistine Chapel, 1509 by Michelangelo Buonarroti
To Vittoria Colonna The Model And The Statue by Michelangelo Buonarroti
Sonnets Of The Months: June by Giacomo Di Michele
Sonnets Of The Months: May by Giacomo Di Michele
Sonnet: 6. Bluebeard by Edna St. Vincent Millay
A Dream Of A Dead Wife by John Milton
On Reaching Age 23 by John Milton
Sonnet: 13. To Mr. H. Lawes, On His Airs by John Milton
Sonnet: 18. On The Late Massacre In Piedmont by John Milton
Sonnet: 19. On His Blindness by John Milton
Anthem For Doomed Youth by Wilfred Owen
Love The Tyrant by Petrarch
A Night Piece by Petrarch
Sonnet 88 Used As Troilus' Complaint by Petrarch
Sonnet: Silence by Edgar Allan Poe
To Science; Sonnet by Edgar Allan Poe
Piazza Piece by John Crowe Ransom
April In Town by Lizette Woodworth Reese
Archaic Torso Of Apollo by Rainer Maria Rilke
Unicorn by Rainer Maria Rilke
Vowels by Arthur Rimbaud
How Annandale Went Out by Edwin Arlington Robinson
The Pity Of The Leaves by Edwin Arlington Robinson
Reuben Bright by Edwin Arlington Robinson
The Sheaves by Edwin Arlington Robinson
Verlaine by Edwin Arlington Robinson
Cassandra's Beauty by Pierre De Ronsard
Life's Roses by Pierre De Ronsard
Love's Wounding by Pierre De Ronsard
From Sunset To Star Rise by Christina Georgina Rossetti
In An Artist's Studio by Christina Georgina Rossetti
Remember by Christina Georgina Rossetti
The House Of Life: 19. Silent Noon by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
The House Of Life: 78. Body's Beauty by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
The House Of Life: 83. Barren Spring by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
The House Of Life: The Sonnet (introduction) by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
A Match With The Moon by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
On The Road To Waterloo: 17 October by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Sonnet To Oxford by Thomas (1762-1788) Russell
On A Piece Of Tapestry by George Santayana
Clocks Of Wheels by Giovan Leone Sempronio
Emblem, Alas! by Anna Seward
Sonnet: 106 by William Shakespeare
Sonnet: 107 by William Shakespeare
Sonnet: 116 by William Shakespeare
Sonnet: 121 by William Shakespeare
Sonnet: 129 by William Shakespeare
Sonnet: 138 by William Shakespeare
Sonnet: 146 by William Shakespeare
Sonnet: 30 by William Shakespeare
Sonnet: 53 by William Shakespeare
Sonnet: 73 by William Shakespeare
Sonnet: 94 by William Shakespeare
England In 1819 by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Asking The Moon About Love by Philip Sidney
Hit By Love by Philip Sidney
Poetry's Source by Philip Sidney
Yes, But by Philip Sidney
By The Swanannoa by William Gilmore Simms
Elegiac Sonnet: 77. To The Insect Of The Gossamer by Charlotte Smith
Doing And Undoing by Edmund Spenser
Eternizing Her by Edmund Spenser
A Hard Audience by Edmund Spenser
Her Portrait by Edmund Spenser
Her World by Gaspara Stampa
Autumn Refrain by Wallace Stevens
Sonnets From Greece: Mt. Lykaion by Trumbull Stickney
Sonnets From Greece: Near Helikon by Trumbull Stickney
Sonnets From Greece: Sunium by Trumbull Stickney
...and More Cats by Torquato Tasso
Cats by Torquato Tasso
A Nasty Sonnet by Alfred Tennyson
Lie Still, Sleep Becalmed by Dylan Thomas
Sonnet: 2. February Afternoon by Philip Edward Thomas
The House Stands Vacant by Frederick Goddard Tuckerman
In His Garden by Frederick Goddard Tuckerman
Old Ruralities; A Regret by Charles Tennyson Turner
Shadows Off The Coast by Charles Tennyson Turner
White Cats by Paul Valery
Caring For Surfaces by Mona Van Duyn
Night Scene by Paul Verlaine
The Latter Rain by Jones Very
The Dream by Theophile De Viau
Written At Stonehenge by Thomas Wharton
O by Richard Wilbur
Impression De Voyage by Oscar Wilde
To The Mockingbird by Richard Henry Wilde
Apollo And Daphne by Yvor Winters
Failure by Humbert Wolfe
Composed Upon The Beach Near Calais, August, 1802 by William Wordsworth
Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802 by William Wordsworth
Ecclesiastical Sonnets: Part 3: 34. Mutability by William Wordsworth
The River Duddon: Sonnet 5 by William Wordsworth
Sonnet by William Wordsworth
The Sonnet by William Wordsworth
Steamboats, Viaducts, And Railways by William Wordsworth
The World; Sonnet by William Wordsworth
Rescuing Cupid by Mary Sidney Wroth
Thinking Of Love by Mary Sidney Wroth
Farewell To Love by Thomas Wyatt
Hands Off! by Thomas Wyatt
Self-portrait by Elinor Wylie
Leda And The Swan by William Butler Yeats
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

From the Inside Flap

"A sonnet is a moment's monument," said Dante Gabriel Rossetti in a sonnet about sonnets.

The sonnets in this collection?whether they capture moments of perception, recognition, despair, or celebration?reveal how great an amount of feeling, insight, and experience can be concentrated into a mere fourteen lines.

Here are classics such as Milton's "On His Blindness," Yeats's "Leda and the Swan," and Frost's "The Oven Bird," juxtaposed with the mischievous wit of Rupert Brooke's "Sonnet Reversed," the lyric defiance of Mona Van Duyn's "Caring for Surfaces," and the comic poignancy of Philip Larkin's "To Failure." From the lovelorn laments of Dante and Petrarch to the artful heights of Sidney, Spenser, and Shakespeare, from the masterpieces of Wordsworth and Keats to the innovations of Elizabeth Bishop, Wallace Stevens, and James Merrill, the sonnet has proved both versatile and enduring.

This delightful anthology displays the incredible range and power of the verse form that has inspired poets across the centuries.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Everyman's Library; First Edition edition (March 27, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375411771
• ISBN-13: 978-0375411779
• Product Dimensions: 4.4 x 0.8 x 6.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #393,985 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Editing is nice. Editor is pompous., January 27, 2008

By 

C. Reno "thinking book lover" (Tulsa, Oklahoma USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sonnets: From Dante to the Present (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets) (Hardcover)

I've been interested in sonnets now for 4 years. I have written about 8 sonnets or attempts since then which I've workshopped on multiple forums. I found this book at a local bookstore, and "SONNETS" just jumped right at me. I searched for one of my favorite sonnets, John Donne's "Batter My Heart Three-Personed God" or alternately "Holy Sonnet XIV." I was disappointed I found neither of those in the table of contents. I did find John Donne though, and subsequently looked up his poem called, "The Soul to Her Rescuer." I found that one, and it was exactly the same poem. It was only later that I read in the forward that Hollander doesn't call the poems what the poet calls the poems.

Other than that, I find this book to be a pleasure to read. It is not written in OldE English, so it is easy to read. All of the poems have something in them to like whether it's theme, rhyme scheme, rhythm, iamb, metrical substitutions, caesurae, assonance, consonance, etc. After reading this, I am now creating sonnets with much more ease.

I wouldn't buy it alone though. I'd buy it with Timothy Steele's All the Fun's in How You Say a Thing. It's a great introduction to formal verse. Also go to poetry workshops like Sonnet Central.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fine Anthology, Within an Elegant Little Book, February 11, 2010

By 

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

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sonnets: From Dante to the Present (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets) (Hardcover)

Maybe one shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but the silky jacket and the dreamy young lady seemed to me to capture the spirit of the sonnet; fortunately the contents also lived up to promise of the cover, fulfilling my hopes and expectations. As with all the Everyman poetry anthologies, this is an elegant collection. The sonnet is a form that one can dip into very rewardingly whenever and wherever one has a few moments to spare, so I was delighted when, for my Sonnets for Sinners: Everything One Needs to Know About Illicit Love, my publisher selected the same nifty vest-pocket size. Anyone who enjoys either of these anthologies will also very much enjoy the companion Everyman series, especially, Love Poems, and Erotic Poems.