The Early Modern English Sonnet: Ever in Motion - Paperback

by Laetitia Sansonetti (Editor), Rémi Vuillemin (Editor), Enrica Zanin (Editor)

This volume questions and qualifies commonly accepted assumptions about the early modern English sonnet: that it was a strictly codified form, most often organised in sequences, which only emerged at the very end of the sixteenth century and declined as fast as it had bloomed, and that minor poets merely participated in the sonnet fashion by replicating established conventions.
Drawing from book history and relying on close reading and textual criticism, this collection offers a more nuanced account of the history of the sonnet. It discusses how sonnets were written, published and received in England as compared to mainland Europe, and explores the works of major (Shakespeare, Sidney, Spenser) and minor (Barnes, Harvey) poets alike. Reflecting on current editorial practices, it also provides the first modern edition of an early seventeenth-century Elizabethan miscellany including sonnets presumably by Sidney and Spenser.

Back Jacket

This volume questions and qualifies commonly accepted assumptions about the early modern English sonnet: that it was a strictly codified form, most often organised in sequences, which only emerged at the very end of the sixteenth century and declined as fast as it had bloomed at the turn of the century--and that minor poets merely participated in the sonnet fashion by replicating established conventions.
Drawing from book history, relying on the methods of close reading and textual criticism, it offers a more nuanced history of the form in early modern England--and especially of the so-called 'sonnet craze'--by exploring the works of such major poets as Shakespeare, Sidney or Spenser, but also of lesser-studied sonneteers such as Barnabe Barnes and Gabriel Harvey. It discusses how sonnets were written, published, received and repurposed in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England, taking into account interactions with the French and Italian literary traditions. The collection also deals with current editorial practices and provides the first modern edition of an early seventeenth-century Elizabethan miscellany which claims the Earl of Essex, Spenser and 'S.P.S.' (presumably Sir Philp Sidney) as authors.
With its ground-breaking contributions (including one by the world-renowned scholar of comparative literature William J. Kennedy) and the most up-to-date bibliography available on the topic, this volume will both act as a stimulating incentive to researchers and as a companion to the early modern English sonnet for students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Author Biography

Rémi Vuillemin is Senior Lecturer in English language and literature at Université de Strasbourg, France