Scanty Plot of Ground - by Paul Muldoon (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

An essential anthology of beloved classics, hidden treasures and standout contemporary examples

In the introduction to his selection of some of the greatest sonnets ever written, Paul Muldoon reminds us that part of the reason for the 'durability' of the sonnet is its 'very specific duration'. It is the perfect length for what Dante Gabriel Rossetti described as 'a moment's monument' or William Wordsworth as a 'scanty plot of ground' offering 'brief solace' for those who 'have felt the weight of too much liberty'. Among the poets included in this centuries-spanning edition are Elizabeth Bishop, Wanda Coleman, John Donne, Terrance Hayes, John Keats, Claude McKay, Edna St Vincent Millay, Christina Rossetti, William Shakespeare, Patricia Smith and W. B. Yeats. There are also translations by Muldoon of sonnets by Charles Baudelaire, Rainer Maria Rilke and César Vallejo, as well as the duo of Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud.

Review Quotes

"To describe Paul Muldoon's influence on contemporary poetry is like trying to assess the influence of The Beatles on post-war music: it's to be seen and heard in the work of almost every British and Irish poet since the 1970's." -- Irish Post

"Ireland's greatest living poet." -- RTÉ