Elegiac Sonnets: 1789

by Charlotte Turner Smith

Wordsworth described Charlotte Smith as 'with a true feeling for rural nature, at a time when Nature was not much regarded by English Poets.' With William Lisle Bowles, Smith has the distinction of bringing the sonnet back into favour at the outset of the Romantic period.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Romanticism, 18th Century, School, Female Authors

Hardcover

First published August 8, 1783

About the author

Charlotte Turner Smith was an English Romantic poet and novelist. She initiated a revival of the English sonnet, helped establish the conventions of Gothic fiction, and wrote political novels of sensibility.

Reviews

[Sotiris Karaiskos · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the last few days I read some of the writer's novels and what impressed me is her very poetic writing. This created the need to look for some of her poems for which she was well known then. So I arrived at this very beautiful collection of poems from a time where poetry was something simpler. A wonderful stream of images and emotions.

[Beth Behle]

A seriously talented poet but a big complainer. The “I have it worse than any one in the world” theme gets repetitive.

[Ashleigh · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[j e rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

"He rests upon the mercies of his god."

[Daniel J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting poems in the voice of Goethe.

[Chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why are all Romantic poets miserable

[Ona · Rating 4 out of 5]

I also have depression

[Silas Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Charlotte Smith for making the sonnet cool again. Love the combination of melancholy/sorrowful themes and the poetic genre most associated with love. Brilliant and beautiful.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm honestly not the biggest fan of poetry at all, but this was required reading for one of my uni courses. All I can say really is that I was slightly indifferent throughout it (perhaps due to a general avoidance of poetry on my behalf). I didn't love it to the point of gushing over it, but I have read much worse poems.

At least Smith's poems and sonnets were short.

[mills !! · Rating 3 out of 5]

so sorrowful and genuienly tender. i felt my heart breaking slightly as we got further through. really delicately and sweetly written though, feels so personal. the sadness was at points so overwhelming though and did feel a bit suffocating at points.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Judged to be an early Romantic poet, Charlotte Turner Smith's sonnets are surprisingly accessible and vary in subject matter from nature to human emotions. I am not quite sure why she has been so neglected as these poems are interesting and original examples of the sonnet form.

[for-much-deliberation ... · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sonnets and poems by British poet Charlotte Turner Smith

Can be read online: http://digital.lib.ucdavis.edu/projec...

[quinn ☾₊ ⊹ · Rating 5 out of 5]

read for uni!!

charlotte smith the woman that you are……

[Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favourite poems weren't all the ones on my special fields list, so I'm glad I looked at the whole thing. It seems to have changed a lot over the course of its seven editions -- I'd like to know more about its publication history. The footnotes were interesting too-- both that she felt the need to identify the sources for her allusions, and the particular sources that she favoured (Shakespeare, Pope, and Gray)