Classical Poetry PDF EPUB

Minor Poems of Michael Drayton

Downloads: Under 100
First published: 1907
Pages: 269

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About this book

Love poems, pastoral songs and elegies show several sides of Michael Drayton's verse in this selection edited by Cyril Brett. Minor Poems of Michael Drayton brings together sonnets from successive editions, odes, Nimphidia and The Muses Elizium. A chronological table and an introduction place the poems alongside the poet's life and other writings. An appendix and notes accompany the selection.

The introduction pays particular attention to Drayton's revisions and his changing use of rhythm, showing how poems could develop across years of publication. It also describes his debt to Spenser and his efforts to give conventional shepherd poetry a more natural tone. In an elegy, praise of a devoted friend gives way to grief at his loss and anger at life's uncertainty. The collection offers material for reading early modern English poetry through both its formal experiments and its personal feeling.