Charlotte Smith, Elegiac Sonnets, and Other Essays

Bethan Roberts (University of Liverpool)

Ed. by Daniel Robinson, Widener University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.06: English Writing and Culture of the Romantic Period, 1789-1837.
Vol. editors: Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Daniel Robinson (Widener University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1784

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Elegy
Poem collection
Sonnet

Resources

Elegiac Sonnets and Other Essays. By Charlotte Smith, of Bignor Park, Sussex was first published in June 1784: a slim quarto edition funded by Smith herself. It went on to expand through multiple editions, with a final total of ninety-two sonnets by 1800, and met with popular and critical acclaim. Smith is widely credited with reviving the moribund sonnet form in the late eighteenth century, which had been used little during the hundred years following Milton’s death in 1674, yet became one of the most popular poetic forms of the Romantic period. As well as for reviving the sonnet, Smith has been celebrated as “the first poet in England whom in retrospect we would call Romantic” (Curran “Introduction” xix; see also …

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

5884 words

Citation: Roberts, Bethan. "Elegiac Sonnets, and Other Essays". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 02 January 2014 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5419, accessed 22 November 2024.]

Save this article