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Elizabethan Lyrics: From the Original Texts
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 29, 2021
This was an interesting volume, not always easy as the language is classic, verbose and very flowery but it was fascinating to read the "lyrics" of the day.
Literary greats such as Shakespeare, Spenser, Donne, Raleigh, Sidney and many others are also represented.
Mostly of course on the theme of love this will not when you think of it this was kind of their social media of the day, love notes, poems etc.
It's all a form of communication so from an historical aspect this was a great glimpse into the thoughts and feelings of the day and a chance to see the work of Shakespeare's contemporaries in the field.
Not a huge fan of poetry but this was interesting.
Literary greats such as Shakespeare, Spenser, Donne, Raleigh, Sidney and many others are also represented.
Mostly of course on the theme of love this will not when you think of it this was kind of their social media of the day, love notes, poems etc.
It's all a form of communication so from an historical aspect this was a great glimpse into the thoughts and feelings of the day and a chance to see the work of Shakespeare's contemporaries in the field.
Not a huge fan of poetry but this was interesting.
March 20, 2025
Sturgeon's Law states that "90% of everything is crap": reading the early poems of this book, I felt he had underestimated. Apart from the odd (very odd) zinger by Thomas Wyatt, and the odd good line from Sir Philip Sidney, the poetry here is mostly pretty awful. Apart from the fact that it rhymes and is properly rhythmical, the whingey, whiney tone of "The girl I fancy doesn't fancy me back: all women are bitches" or "I love the most beautiful girl in the world" is little different from what the average 14-year-old schoolboy set to write some poetry for homework now would write.
And then....
Around 1588, something happens. Suddenly, the women start being individuals, with personalities of their own that make them MORE attractive: they aren't just undifferentiated goddesses/bitches who resemble the perfection of blah blah blah: they have some sort of life.
Now, I suspect this coincides with the increase in good female parts in theatre, too early for Shakespeare but (possibly) Kyd's Spanish Tragedy, where Bel-Imperia is both sexy and crafty, and chaste, and lovely, and complex, etc.
Suddenly, the poetry starts being good. Not all of it by any means, but at the same time not universally awful, and most of it innovative or interesting or moving or fun or silly or worth reading. Shakespeare's Black Mistress doesn't come out of nowhere, but is a representative of the "Why do I feel this way?" poems. Whereas the first 130 pages it is hard even to find nuggets.
Ault stretches the concept of Elizabethan from the year of Elizabeth I's birth to about 20 years after her death, which again is odd, but it does show a clear progression.
So, an utterly valuable book: you see how turgid a lot of sixteenth century poetry was, and then the flowering, and then, probably, a withering away. Sure, Donne and Jonson and Fletcher are still putting it out there in 1620, but the 1590s and 1600s seem to be the big ones for quality poems.
It is worth noting that there does not seem to be a single female poet in this collection. Lanyer, Sidney, Whitney didn't really write lyrics, and this book is dated as a result. They are worth reading separately, but they are (generally) more interesting.
And then....
Around 1588, something happens. Suddenly, the women start being individuals, with personalities of their own that make them MORE attractive: they aren't just undifferentiated goddesses/bitches who resemble the perfection of blah blah blah: they have some sort of life.
Now, I suspect this coincides with the increase in good female parts in theatre, too early for Shakespeare but (possibly) Kyd's Spanish Tragedy, where Bel-Imperia is both sexy and crafty, and chaste, and lovely, and complex, etc.
Suddenly, the poetry starts being good. Not all of it by any means, but at the same time not universally awful, and most of it innovative or interesting or moving or fun or silly or worth reading. Shakespeare's Black Mistress doesn't come out of nowhere, but is a representative of the "Why do I feel this way?" poems. Whereas the first 130 pages it is hard even to find nuggets.
Ault stretches the concept of Elizabethan from the year of Elizabeth I's birth to about 20 years after her death, which again is odd, but it does show a clear progression.
So, an utterly valuable book: you see how turgid a lot of sixteenth century poetry was, and then the flowering, and then, probably, a withering away. Sure, Donne and Jonson and Fletcher are still putting it out there in 1620, but the 1590s and 1600s seem to be the big ones for quality poems.
It is worth noting that there does not seem to be a single female poet in this collection. Lanyer, Sidney, Whitney didn't really write lyrics, and this book is dated as a result. They are worth reading separately, but they are (generally) more interesting.
March 31, 2021
This gem of a book was on my English Lit course in college so was a must-buy; $2.95 at the time although listed at $7.95 (You can guess my age by the price). It took years to appreciate its true value and it has travelled with us everywhere we've ever lived.
Norman Ault has done a superb job of covering all the masters of the English Renaissance: Spencer, Jonson, Donne, Shakespeare, Bacon.. but the surprise in his anthology is the number of lesser-known courtly poets of the day. We see Thomas Wyatt in his robust youth, Sir Walter Raleigh on the eve of his execution, and many more of lesser fame. This highlights the development of metaphysical poetry and the complexity of literary thought in the 16th and 17th centuries. And for those who love sonnets, this collection is for you.
My only reservation about the book, and it is a small one, is that Ault has arranged all the works in the order in which they were written. This means a lot of page flipping if you're trying to follow a particular author, as I do in my literary blog on Facebook.
The best option is to keep a supply of post-it notes handy rather than checking the index every five minutes. I can hardly wait for a large-print edition to come out.
Norman Ault has done a superb job of covering all the masters of the English Renaissance: Spencer, Jonson, Donne, Shakespeare, Bacon.. but the surprise in his anthology is the number of lesser-known courtly poets of the day. We see Thomas Wyatt in his robust youth, Sir Walter Raleigh on the eve of his execution, and many more of lesser fame. This highlights the development of metaphysical poetry and the complexity of literary thought in the 16th and 17th centuries. And for those who love sonnets, this collection is for you.
My only reservation about the book, and it is a small one, is that Ault has arranged all the works in the order in which they were written. This means a lot of page flipping if you're trying to follow a particular author, as I do in my literary blog on Facebook.
The best option is to keep a supply of post-it notes handy rather than checking the index every five minutes. I can hardly wait for a large-print edition to come out.
February 3, 2023
The title is slightly misleading as this is a substantial collection which begins back in the reign of Henry VIII with Wyatt and Surrey and ends in the 1620s just before the publication of Shakespeare’s First Folio, however it’s a very readable anthology with many of the poems taken from manuscripts or the texts of long-forgotten plays. Particularly enjoyable to read aloud.
February 15, 2017
Interesting in that the songs are arranged in strictly chronological order (as best as can be documented) rather than by author, theme, or type. This allows the reader to see the evolution of style from year to year, popular "themes", and also the way various authors wrote to play off (or make fun of) each others' works. Note: Although the title states that these are Elizabethan lyrics, this book actually covers the years 1535 (Henry VIII) through 1620 (Charles I) - although approximately half the material was written during Elizabeth I's reign.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews