Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.