The Penguin Book of the Sonnet: 500 Years of a Classic Tradition in English

ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionProemFRANCESCO PETRARCA (1304-1374):from Canzoniere, 132GEOFFREY CHAUCER (1343?-1400):from Troilus and Criseyde,Canticus TroiliSIR THOMAS WYATT (1503?-1542)"The longe love, that in my thought doeth harbar""Who so list to hounte I know where is an hynde""Farewell, Love, and all thy lawes for ever""My galy chargèd with forgetfulnes""I find no peace, and all my war is done"HENRY HOWARD, EARL OF SURREY (1517?-1547)"The soote season, that bud and blome furth bringes""Alas, so all thinges nowe doe holde their peace""I never saw you, madam, lay apart""Love that liveth and reigneth in my thought"ANNE LOCKE (1533?-1595)from A Meditation of a Penitent Sinner: Written in maner of a Paraphrase upon the 51 Psalme of David"Loe prostrate, Lorde, before thy face I lye""But render me my wonted joyes againe"GEORGE GASCOIGNE (1539-1578)"That self-same tongue which first did thee entreat"A Sonet written in prayse of the browne beautieGILES FLETCHER THE ELDER (1549?-1611)from Licia or Poems of Love 20. "First did I fear, when first my love began"EDMUND SPENSER (1552?-1599)from Amoretti 1. "Happy ye leaves when as those lilly hands" 8. "More then most faire, full of the living fire" 18. "The rolling wheele that runneth often round" 22. "This holy season fit to fast and pray" 23. "Penelope for her Ulisses' sake" 30. "My love is lyke to yse, and I to fyre" 37. "What guyle is this, that those her golden tresses" 45. "Leave, lady, in your glasse of christall clene" 67. "Lyke as a huntsman after weary chace" 68. "Most glorious Lord of lyfe that on this day" 71. "I joy to see how in your drawen work" 75. "One day I wrote her name upon the strand" 78. "Lackyng my love I go from place to place" 79. "Men call you fayre, and you doe credit it" 81. "Fayre is my love, when her fayre golden heares"FULKE GREVILLE, LORD BROOKE (1554-1628)from Cælica 38. "Cælica, I overnight was finely used" 39. "The nurse-life wheat, within his green husk growing"100. "In night when colours all to black are cast"SIR PHILIP SIDNEY (1554-1586)from The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia"My true love hath my hart, and I have his"from Astrophel and Stella 1. "Loving in truth, and faine in verse my love to show" 3. "Let daintie wits crie on the Sisters nine" 5. "It is most true that eyes are form'd to serve" 31. "With how sad steps, O Moone, thou climb'st the skies" 37."My mouth doth water, and my breast doth swell" 39. "Come sleepe, O sleepe, the certaine knot of peace" 41. "Having this day my horse, my hand, my launce" 47. "What, have I thus betrayed my libertie?" 49. "I on my horse, and Love on me doth trie" 54. "Because I breathe not love to everie one" 63. "O Grammer rules, O now your vertues show" 71. "Who will in fairest booke of Nature know" 73. "Love still a boy, and oft a wanton is" 90. "Stella, thinke not that I by verse seeke fame"from Certaine Sonnets"Leave me, O Love, which reachest but to dust"SIR WALTER RALEGH (1554?-1618)A vision upon This Conceipt of the Faery Queene"A secret murder hath been done of late"To His SonTHOMAS LODGE (1558-1625)from Phillis: Honoured with Pastorall Sonnets, Elegies, and amorous delights 35. "I hope and feare, I pray and hould my peace"GEORGE CHAPMAN (1559?-1634)from A Coronet for his Mistress Philosophy 1. "Muses that sing Love's sensual empery"HENRY CONSTABLE (1562-1613)from Diana"Needs must I leave, and yet needs must I love"MARK ALEXANDER BOYD (1563-1601)Sonet ("Fra banc to banc, fra wod to wod, I rin")SAMUEL DANIEL (1563-1619)from To Delia 34. "Looke, Delia, how wee steeme the half-blowne Rose" 49. "Care-charmer Sleepe, sonne of the sable Night" 50. "Let others sing of Knights and Palladines"MICHAEL DRAYTON (1563-1631)from Idea in Sixtie Three Sonnets 5. "Nothing but No and I, and I and No" 6. "How many paltry, foolish, painted things" 7. "Love, in a Humor, play'd the Prodigall" 15. His Remedie for Love 38. "Sitting alone, Love bids me goe and write" 61. "Since ther's no helpe, Come let us kisse and part"JOHN DAVIES OF HEREFORD (C. 1563?-1618)"Some blaze the precious beauties of their loves""Although we do not all the good we love"The author loving these homely meats specially, viz.: cream, pancakes, buttered pippin-pies, &c.CHARLES BEST (D. 1602)Of the MoonWILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616)from Love's Labour's Lost"Did not the heavenly rhetoric of thine eye"from Romeo and Juliet"If I profane with my unworthiest hand"from Sonnets 1. "From fairest creatures we desire increase" 3. "Look in thy glass, and tell the face thou viewest" 13. "O, that you were yourself, but, love, you are" 18. "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" 19. "Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws" 20. "A woman's face, with Nature's own hand painted" 24. "Mine eye hath played the painter and hath stelled" 27. "Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed" 29. "When, in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes" 53. "What is your substance, whereof are you made" 55. "Not marble nor the gilded monuments" 57. "Being your slave, what should I do but tend" 60. "Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore" 65. "Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea" 71. "No longer mourn for me when I am dead" 73. "That time of year thou mayst in me behold" 94. "They that have pow'r to hurt and will do none"105. "Let not my love be called idolatry"106. "When in the chronicle of wasted time"116. "Let me not to the marriage of true minds"127. "In the old age black was not counted fair"128. "How oft, when thou, my music, music play'st"129. "Th' expense of spirit in a waste of shame"130. "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun"134. "So, now I have confessed that he is thine"138. "When my love swears that she is made of truth"141. "In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes"144. "Two loves I have, of comfort and despair"146. "Poor soul, the center of my sinful earth"147. "My love is as a fever, longing still"151. "Love is too young to know what conscience is"JAMES I (1566-1625)An Epitaph on Sir Philip SidneySIR JOHN DAVIES (1569-1626)from Gullinge Sonnets 5. "Mine Eye, myne eare, my will, my witt, my harte""If you would know the love which I you bear"JOHN DONNE (1572-1631)La Corona 1. "Deign at my hands this crown of prayer and praise" 2. Annunciation 3. Nativity 4. Temple 5. Crucifying 6. Resurrection 7. Ascensionfrom Holy Sonnets 1. "Thou hast made me, and shall thy work decay" 5. "I am a little world made cunningly" 6. "This is my play's last scene, here heavens appoint" 7. "At the round earth's imagined corners, blow" 10. "Death be not proud, though some have called thee" 13. "What if this present were the world's last night?" 14. "Batter my heart, three-personed God; for, you" 18. "Show me dear Christ, thy spouse, so bright and clear" 19. "Oh, to vex me, contraries meet in one"Sonnet. The TokenBEN JONSON (1572?-1637)A Sonnet to the Noble Lady, the Lady Mary WrothLORD HERBERT OF CHERBURY (1583-1648)"Sonnet to Black It Self"WILLIAM DRUMMOND OF HAWTHORNDEN (1585-1649)"I know that all beneath the moon decays""Sleep, Silence' child, sweet father of soft rest"LADY MARY WROTH (1587?-1652?)from Pamphilia to AmphilanthusA crowne of Sonetts dedicated to LoveROBERT HERRICK (1591-1674)To his mistress objecting to him neither toying nor talkingTo his ever-loving GodGEORGE HERBERT (1593-1633)Two Sonnets Sent to His Mother, New-Year 1609/10RedemptionPrayerLove (I)The SonneThe H. Scriptures (I)The H. Scriptures (II)JOHN MILTON (1608-1674)O Nightingale!How Soon Hath TimeTo Mr. H. Lawes, On His AirsOn the Detraction Which Followed Upon My Writing Certain TreatisesOn the New Forcers of Conscience Under the Long ParliamentTo the Lord General CromwellOn the Late Massacre in Piedmont"When I consider how my light is spent""Methought I saw my late espousèd Saint"CHARLES COTTON (1630-1687)Resolution in Four Sonnets, of a Poetical Question Put to Me by a Friend, Concerning Four Rural SistersTHOMAS GRAY (1716-1771)On the Death of Mr. Richard WestTHOMAS WARTON, THE YOUNGER (1728-1790)To the River LodonANNA SEWARD (1747-1809)To Mr. Henry Cary, on the Publication of His SonnetsCHARLOTTE SMITH (1749-1806)To the MoonTo SleepWritten Near a Port on a Dark EveningWILLIAM BLAKE (1757-1827)To the Evening StarROBERT BURNS (1759-1796)A Sonnet upon SonnetsTHOMAS RUSSELL (1762-1788)To the SpiderELIZABETH COBBOLD (1767-1824)from Sonnets of Laura I. ReproachWILLIAM WORDSWORTH (1770-1850)"Nuns fret not at their convent's narrow room"Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802"The world is too much with us; late and soon""It is a beauteous evening, calm and free"from Sonnets Dedicated to LibertyTo Toussaint L'OuvertureLondon, 1802"It is no Spirit who from heaven hath flown""Surprised by joy-impatient as the wind"from The River Duddon, A Series of Sonnets (1820)III. "How shall I paint thee?-Be this naked stone"from Ecclesiastical Sonnets in Series (1822)47. "Why sleeps the future, as a snake enrolled""Scorn not the Sonnet; critic, you have frowned"SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE (1772-1834)To the River OtterTo NatureTo a Friend, Who Asked How I Felt, When the Nurse First Presented My Infant to MeWork Without HopeROBERT SOUTHEY (1774-1843)from Poems on the Slave TradeVI. "High in the air exposed the slave is hung"To a GooseCHARLES LAMB (1775-1834)The Family NameJOSEPH BLANCO WHITE (1775-1841)To NightHORACE SMITH (1779-1849)OzymandiasEBENEZER ELLIOTT (1781-1849)"In these days, every mother's son or daughter"MARTHA HANSON (FL. 1809)"How proudly Man usurps the power to reign"MARY F. JOHNSON (FL. 1810 D. 1863)The Idiot GirlLEIGH HUNT (1784-1859)To the Grasshopper and the CricketGEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON (1788-1824)On Chillon"Rousseau-Voltaire-our Gibbon-and de Staël"PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY (1792-1822)To WordsworthFeelings of a Republican on the Fall of BonaparteOzymandiasEngland in 1819Ode to the West WindJOHN CLARE (1793-1864)To WordsworthHen's NestTo John ClareThe Happy BirdThe Thrush's NestJOHN KEATS (1795-1821)On First Looking into Chapman's HomerTo My Brothers"Great spirits now on earth are sojourning"On the Grasshopper and Cricket"When I have fears that I may cease to be"To Homer"Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art"Sonnet to Sleep"If by dull rhymes our English must be chain'd""I cry your mercy-pity-love!-aye, love"HARTLEY COLERIDGE (1796-1849)To a Friend"Let me not deem that I was made in vain""Think upon Death, 'tis good to think of Death"THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES (1803-1849)To NightA CrocodileELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING (1806-1861)Finite and Infinitefrom Sonnets from the Portuguese I. "I thought once how Theocritus had sung" VII. "The face of all the world is changed, I think" XIII. "And wilt thou have me fashion into speech"XVIII. "I never gave a lock of hair away" XLII. "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways"HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW (1807-1882)ChaucerThe Cross of SnowCHARLES TENNYSON TURNER (1808-1879)Letty's GlobeOn the Eclipse of the Moon of October 1865EDGAR ALLAN POE (1809-1849)To ScienceALFRED, LORD TENNYSON (1809-1892)"If I were loved, as I desire to be""Mine be the strength of spirit fierce and free"ROBERT BROWNING (1812-1889)Why I Am a LiberalJONES VERY (1813-1880)YourselfAUBREY THOMAS DE VERE (1814-1902)The Sun GodGEORGE ELIOT (1819-1880)from Brother and Sister I. "I cannot choose but think upon the time" XI. "School parted us; we never found again"JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL (1819-1891)The StreetFREDERICK GODDARD TUCKERMAN (1821-1873)from Sonnets, First Series 10. "An upper chamber in a darkened house" 28. "Not the round natural world, not the deep mind"from Sonnets, Second Series 7. "His heart was in his garden; but his brain" 29. "How oft in schoolboy-days, from the school's sway"MATTHEW ARNOLD (1822-1888)ShakespeareWest LondonSYDNEY DOBELL (1824-1874)The Army SurgeonGEORGE MEREDITH (1828-1909)from Modern Love I. "By this he knew she wept with waking eyes" XVII. "At dinner, she is hostess, I am host" XXX. "What are we first? First, animals; and next"XXXIV. "Madam would speak with me. So, now it comes" XLVII. "We saw the swallows gathering in the sky" XLIX. "He found her by the ocean's moaning verge" L. "Thus piteously Love closed what he begat"Lucifer in StarlightDANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI (1828-1882)from The House of LifeIntroductory Sonnet XV. The Birth-Bond XIX. Silent Noon LIII. Without HerLXXXIII. Barren Spring XCVII. A SuperscriptionCHRISTINA ROSSETTI (1830-1894)RestIn an Artist's Studiofrom The Thread of Life"Thus am I mine own prison. Everything"ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE (1837-1909)Cor CordiumOn the Russian Persecution of the JewsTHOMAS HARDY (1840-1928)HapShe, to Him (I)She, to Him (II)In the Old Theatre, Fiesole (April 1887)At a Lunar EclipseA Church RomanceOver the CoffinWe Are Getting to the EndROBERT BRIDGES (1844-1930)"While yet we wait for spring, and from the dry"GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS (1844-1889)God's Grandeur"As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame"SpringThe WindhoverPied BeautyThe Caged SkylarkPeaceFelix Randal"I wake and feel the fell of dark, not day""No worst, there is none. Pitched past pitch of grief""Not, I'll not, carrion comfort, Despair, not feast on thee"That Nature Is a Heraclitean Fire and of the Comfort of the Resurrection"Thou art indeed just, Lord, if I contend"To R. B.EUGENE LEE-HAMILTON (1845-1907)from Imaginary Sonnets Luther to a Bluebottle Fly (1540)ALICE CHRISTINA MEYNELL (1847-1922)To a DaisyEMMA LAZARUS (1849-1887)The New ColossusOSCAR WILDE (1856-1900)On the sale by auction of Keats' love lettersHélasFRANCIS THOMPSON (1859-1907)All's VastW. B. YEATS (1865-1939)The Folly of Being ComfortedThe Fascination of What's DifficultAt the Abbey Theater"While I, from that reed-throated whisperer"Leda and the SwanMeruA Crazed GirlHigh TalkERNEST DOWSON (1867-1900)A Last WordEDWARD ARLINGTON ROBINSON (1869-1935)FirelightCalvaryCliff KlingenhagenReuben BrightCredoSonnet ("The master and the slave go hand in hand")The SheavesJAMES WELDON JOHNSON (1871-1938)Mother NightPAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR (1872-1906)Robert Gould ShawDouglassAMY LOWELL (1874-1925)To John KeatsTRUMBULL STICKNEY (1874-1904)"Be still. The Hanging Gardens were a dream"Six O'ClockRUPERT BROOKE (1875-1915)The HillCloudsA Memoryfrom 1914The SoldierALICE DUNBAR-NELSON (1875-1935)Sonnet ("I had no thought of violets of late")ROBERT FROST (1875-1963)A Dream PangMowingMeeting and PassingHyla BrookThe Oven BirdRange-FindingAcquainted with the NightDesignThe Silken TentNever Again Would Birds' Song Be the SameEDWARD THOMAS (1878-1917)Some Eyes CondemnFebruary AfternoonEZRA POUND (1885-1972)A VirginalELINOR WYLIE (1885-1928)from Wild Peaches 1. "When the world turns completely upside down" 2. "The autumn frosts will lie upon the grass"Sonnet ("When, in the dear beginning of the fever")A Lodging for the NightSIEGFRIED SASSOON (1886-1967)DreamersGlory of WomenOn Passing the New Menin GateROBINSON JEFFERS (1887-1962)Love the Wild SwanMARIANNE MOORE (1887-1972)No Swan So FineEDWIN MUIR (1887-1959)MiltonT. S. ELIOT (1888-1965)from The Dry SalvagesJOHN CROWE RANSOM (1888-1974)Piazza PieceCLAUDE MCKAY (1890-1948)If We Must DieThe Harlem DancerAmericaARCHIBALD MACLEISH (1892-1983)The End of the WorldAeterna Poetae MemoriaEDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY (1892-1950)"Thou art not lovelier than lilacs,-no""Time does not bring relief; you all have lied""If I should learn, in some quite casual way""Oh, think not I am faithful to a vow""Pity me not because the light of day""I shall go back again to the bleak shore""I, being born a woman and distressed""What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why""Still will I harvest beauty where it grows"from Fatal Interview (1931) II. "This beast that rends me in the sight of all" VII. "Night is my sister, and how deep in love" XX. "Think not, nor for a moment let your mind"XXX. "Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink""I will put Chaos into fourteen lines""Read history: so learn your place in Time"from Epitaph for the Race of Man (1934) V. "When Man is gone and only gods remain"WILFRED OWEN (1893-1918)Anthem for Doomed YouthDulce et Decorum EstFutilityDOROTHY PARKER (1893-1967)"I Shall Come Back"e. e. cummings (1894-1962)"when thou hast taken thy last applause,and when""my girl's tall with hard long eyes""it is at moments after i have dreamed""it may not always be so;and i say"from Sonnets-Actualities I. "when my love comes to see me it's" II. "it is funny,you will be dead some day" VII. "yours is the music for no instrument" X. "a thing most new complete fragile intense" XII. "my love is building a building""i like my body when it is with your"" 'next to of course god america i""if i have made,my lady,intricate""i carry your heart with me(i carry it in"JEAN TOOMER (1894-1967)November Cotton FlowerROBERT GRAVES (1895-1985)History of the WordEDMUND BLUNDEN (1896-1974)Vlamertinghe: Passing the Chateau, July 1917LOUISE BOGAN (1897-1970)Fifteenth FarewellSimple AutumnalSonnet ("Dark, underground, is furnished with the bone")Single SonnetMusicianHART CRANE (1899-1932)To Emily DickinsonALLEN TATE (1899-1979)from Sonnets at Christmas 2. "Ah, Christ, I love you rings to the wild sky"YVOR WINTERS (1900-1968)To Emily DickinsonROY CAMPBELL (1901-1957)Luis de CamõesCOUNTEE CULLEN (1903-1946)Yet Do I MarvelAt the Wailing Wall in JerusalemEDWIN DENBY (1903-1983)AirMERRILL MOORE (1903-1957)They Also Stand . . .PATRICK KAVANAUGH (1904-1967)Canal Bank WalkPHYLLIS MCGINLEY (1905-1978)Evening MusicaleELLIOTT COLEMAN (1906-1980)from Oedipus Sonnets 3. "In a May evening, commuter, king"W. H. AUDEN (1907-1973)Who's WhoOur BiasMontaigneRimbaudBrussels in Winterfrom The Quest: A Sonnet SequenceThe Doorfrom In Time of War XII. "And the age ended, and the last deliverer died"XXVII. "Wandering lost upon the mountains of our choice"LOUIS MACNEICE (1907-1963)Sunday MorningMALCOLM LOWRY (1909-1957)Delirium in Vera CruzJAMES REEVES (B. 1909)Leaving TownSTEPHEN SPENDER (1909-1995)"Without that once clear aim, the path of flight"ELIZABETH BISHOP (1911-1979)The ProdigalSonnet ("Caught-the bubble")GEORGE BARKER (1913-1991)To My MotherROBERT HAYDEN (1913-1980)Those Winter SundaysFrederick DouglassMURIEL RUKEYSER (1913-1980)On the Death of Her MotherDELMORE SCHWARTZ (1913-1966)The Beautiful American Word, SureJOHN BERRYMAN (1914-1972)from Berryman's Sonnets (1967) 7. "I've found out why, that day, that suicide" 15. "What was Ashore, then? . . Cargoed with Forget" 36. "Keep your eyes open when you kiss: do: when"107. "Darling I wait O in my upstairs box"115. "All we were going strong last night this time"WELDON KEES (1914-1955)For My DaughterWILLIAM STAFFORD (1914-1993)TimeDYLAN THOMAS (1914-1953)Among Those Killed in the Dawn Raid Was a Man Aged a HundredMARGARET WALKER (1915-1998)ChildhoodFor Malcolm XGWENDOLYN BROOKS (1917-2000)from The Children of the Poor 1. "People who have no children can be hard" 4. "First fight. Then fiddle. Ply the slipping string"from Gay Chaps at the Bargay chaps at the barstill do I keep my look, my identity . . .my dreams, my works, must wait till after hellpiano after warthe progressCHARLES CAUSLEY (B. 1917)AutobiographyROBERT LOWELL (1917-1977)HistoryWords for Hart CraneEzra PoundRobert FrostFishnetDolphinWILLIAM MEREDITH (B. 1919)The IlliterateAMY CLAMPITT (1920-1994)The Cormorant in Its ElementHOWARD NEMEROV (1920-1991)A Primer of the Daily RoundHAYDEN CARRUTH (B. 1921)from Sonnets 2. "How is it, tell me, that this new self can be" 3. "Last night, I don't know if from habit or intent" 4. "While you stood talking at the counter, cutting" 5. "From our very high window at the Sheraton"Sonnet ("Well, she told me I had an aura. 'What?' I said")Late SonnetMARIE PONSOT (B. 1921)Out of EdenCallRICHARD WILBUR (B. 1921)Praise in SummerPHILIP LARKIN (1922-1985)"Love, we must part now: do not let it be"ANTHONY HECHT (B. 1923)Double SonnetThe Feast of StephenJANE COOPER (B. 1924)PraiseDONALD JUSTICE (B. 1925)The WallMrs. SnowHenry James by the PacificJAMES K. BAXTER (1926-1972)from Jerusalem Sonnets 1. "The small gray cloudy louse that nests in my beard"JAMES MERRILL (1926-1995)MarsyasLast WordsW. D. SNODGRASS (B. 1926)Mh' tiV . . . Ou''tiVJOHN ASHBERY (B. 1927)Rain Moving InW. S. MERWIN (B. 1927)Epitaph on Certain SchismaticsSubstanceJAMES WRIGHT (1927-1980)Saint JudasMy Grandmother's GhostDONALD HALL (B. 1928)President and PoetPHILIP LEVINE (B. 1928)LlantoTHOM GUNN (B. 1929)First Meeting with a Possible Mother-in-LawKeats at HighgateJOHN HOLLANDER (B. 1929)from Powers of Thirteen"Just the right number of letters-half the alphabet""That other time of day when the chiming of Thirteen"from The Mad Potter"Clay to clay: Soon I shall indeed become"ADRIENNE RICH (B. 1929)from Contradictions: Tracking Poems 1. "Look: this is January the worst onslaught" 14. "Lately in my dreams I hear long sentences" 18. "The problem, unstated till now, is how"Final NotationsDEREK WALCOTT (B. 1930)Homage to Edward ThomasGEOFFREY HILL (B. 1932)September SongFuneral MusicSYLVIA PLATH (1932-1963)MayflowerJOHN UPDIKE (B. 1932)Island CitiesTED BERRIGAN (1934-1983)from The Sonnets III. "Stronger than alcohol, more great than song"JEAN VALENTINE (B. 1934)RainROBERT MEZEY (B. 1935)HardyGRACE SCHULMAN (B. 1935)The Abbess of WhitbyCHARLES WRIGHT (B. 1935)Composition in Grey and PinkJUNE JORDAN (B. 1936)Sunflower Sonnet Number TwoJUDITH RODRIGUEZ (B. 1936)In-flight NoteFREDERICK SEIDEL (B. 1936)ElmsJOHN FULLER (B. 1937)from Lily and Violin 6. "Afterwards we may not speak: piled chords"TONY HARRISON (B. 1937)from Fom The School of EloquenceOn Not Being MiltonLES MURRAY (B. 1938)CometeCHARLES SIMIC (B. 1938)HistoryDICK ALLEN (B. 1939)Lost LoveFRANK BIDART (B. 1939)Self-Portrait, 1969SEAMUS HEANEY (B. 1939)The ForgeAct of UnionThe Seed CuttersA Dream of Jealousyfrom Clearances II. "Polished linoleum shone there. Brass taps shone" III. "When all the others were away at Mass"STANLEY PLUMLY (B. 1939)from Boy on the Step 1. "He's out of breath only halfway up the hill" 5. "None of us dies entirely-some of us, all"BILLY COLLINS (B. 1941)American SonnetDuck/RabbitSonnet ("All we need is fourteen lines, well, thirteen now")DOUGLAS DUNN (B. 1942)FranceMARILYN HACKER (B. 1942)Sonnet ("Love drives its rackety blue caravan")from Love, Death, and the Changing of the Seasons"Did you love well what very soon you left"from Cancer Winter"Syllables shaped around the darkening day's""I woke up, and the surgeon said, 'You're cured' ""The odd and even numbers of the street""At noon, an orderly wheeled me upstairs"DAVID HUDDLE (B. 1942)from Tour of DutyWordsfrom AlbumCodaANN LAUTERBACH (B. 1942)ApertureCHARLES MARTIN (B. 1942)Easter Sunday, 1985from Making Faces II. The End of the WorldThe Philosopher's BalloonWILLIAM MATTHEWS (1942-1997)VerminHENRY TAYLOR (B. 1942)Green Springs the TreeLOUISE GLÜCK (B. 1943)SnowdropsELLEN BRYANT VOIGT (B. 1943)from Kyrie"Dear Mattie, You're sweet to write me every day""When does a childhood end? Mothers""This is the double bed where she'd been born""Once the world had had its fill of war"EAVAN BOLAND (B. 1944)Yeats in Civil WarThe SingersHeroicJ. D. MCCLATCHY (B. 1945)My MammogramLEON STOKESBURY (B. 1945)To His BookSTAR BLACK (B. 1946)Rilke's Letter from RomePersonalsMARILYN NELSON (B. 1946)BalanceChosenChopinBRUCE SMITH (B. 1946)from In My Father's HouseO My Invisible EstateMOLLY PEACOCK (B. 1947)The LullDesireInstead of Her OwnThe PurrThe HuntHUGH SEIDMAN (B. 1947)14 First SentencesFLOYD SKLOOT (B. 1947)My Daughter Considers Her BodyRACHEL HADAS (B. 1948)Moments of SummerDAVID LEHMAN (B. 1948)Sonnet ("No roof so poor it does not shelter")TIMOTHY STEELE (B. 1948)SummerAGHA SHAHID ALI (B. 1949)from I Dream I Am the Only Passenger on Flight 423 to Srinagar,"and when we-as if from ashes-ascend""Attar-of jasmine? What was it she wore"DENIS JOHNSON (B. 1949)SwayPassengersSHEROD SANTOS (B. 1949)Married LoveJULIA ALVAREZ (B. 1950)from 33"Where are the girls who were so beautiful""Let's make a modern primer for our kids""Ever have an older lover say: God""Secretly I am building in the heart"DANA GIOIA (B. 1950)Sunday Night in Santa RosaT. R. HUMMER (B. 1950)The Rural Carrier Stops to Kill a Nine-Foot CottonmouthMEDBH MCGUCKIAN (B. 1950)Still Life of EggsPAUL MULDOON (B. 1951)Why Brownlee LeftHoly ThursdayOctober 1950RITA DOVE (B. 1952)Hades' PitchSonnet in Primary ColorsMARK JARMAN (B. 1952)from Unholy Sonnets 2. "Which is the one, which of the imps inside" 9. "Someone is always praying as the plane" 14. "In via est cisterna"ELIZABETH MACKLIN (B. 1952)I Fail to Speak to My Earth, My DesireFoolishly Halved, I See YouTOM SLEIGH (B. 1953)The Very EndEclipsefrom The Work 4. The GodROSANNA WARREN (B. 1953)NecrophiliacDAVID WOJAHN (B. 1953)from Mystery Train: A Sequence 1. Homage: Light from the Hall 2. Buddy Holly Watching Rebel Without a Cause, Lubbock, Texas, 1956DAVID BAKER (B. 1954)Top of the StoveBRUCE BOND (B. 1954)IsaacPHILLIS LEVIN (B. 1954)Final RequestJAMES MCCORKLE (B. 1954)Deer at the Corner of the HouseJOHN BURNSIDE (B. 1955)The Myth of the TwinCAROL ANN DUFFY (B. 1955)PrayerROBIN ROBERTSON (B. 1955)Wedding the Locksmith's DaughterAPRIL BERNARD (B. 1956)Sonnet in EHENRI COLE (B. 1956)Chiffon MorningANNIE FINCH (B. 1956)My RaptorKARL KIRCHWEY (B. 1956)Zoo StoryIn TransitDEBORAH LASER (B. 1956)from Between Two Gardens"Night shares this day with me, is the rumpled"JACQUELINE OSHEROW (B. 1956)Sonnet for a Single Day in AutumnYom Kippur Sonnet, with a Line from LamentationsJAMES LASDUN (B. 1958)Powder CompactPlague YearsKATE LIGHT (B. 1960)Reading Someone Else's Love PoemsYour Unconscious Speaks to My UnconsciousAnd Then There Is That Incredible Moment,JOE BOLTON (1961-1990)from Style II. "I was surprised to find how light I felt"SASCHA FEINSTEIN (B. 1963)from Sonnets for Stan Gage (1945-1992)"Floodlight shadow. Your shoes are stroking""With young people the heart keeps beating even"RAFAEL CAMPO (B. 1964)The Mental Status ExamMIKE NELSON (B. 1967)Light Sonnet for the Lover of a DarkDANIEL GUTSTEIN (B. 1968)What Can DisappearBETH ANN FENNELLY (B. 1971)Poem Not to Be Read at Your WeddingJASON SCHNEIDERMAN (B. 1976)The Disease CollectorAppendix: The Architecture of a SonnetExplanatory NotesSuggestions for Further ReadingBiographical NotesIndex of AuthorsIndex of Titles and First Lines