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.

About the Author

Remi Vuillemin is Senior Lecturer in English language and literature at Universite de Strasbourg, France

Laetitia Sansonetti is Senior Lecturer in English literature and translation studies at Universite Paris Nanterre, France

Enrica Zanin is Senior Lecturer in comparative early modern literature at Universite de Strasbourg, France

Reviews

'This remarkable volume is a fine addition to the current body of scholarship on the sonnet form. Scholars of English lyric would benefit from a look at this volume, as would those who have especial interest in the structure and material production of early modern verse miscellanies.'
The Spenser Review

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Book Information
ISBN 9781526163837
Author Laetitia Sansonetti
Format Paperback
Page Count 240
Imprint Manchester University Press
Publisher Manchester University Press
Weight(grams) 345g
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 156mm * 13mm