Note on Sonnets
Richard Wilbur graciously allowed me to quote him on the back cover: "[A] laudable ability to think in the sonnet form, to make use of its logic, and to keep its formal promises." As coming from such a technician, you can imagine the wording pleased me. (I must dig out the first part of that sentence which pointed out some of the faults.)
Sonnets was my first book conceived as such. It was reviewed online at Expansive Poetry Online, overall positively, though it was not a careful reading: Mortensen writes, "The options that Novak misses in sticking to one sonnet form, however, are manifold." While a majority were Elizabethan, there was some variance, but he did not notice it. Still, it was a thoughtful review, and I was glad to have had it.
Additional selections from the book are up at Sonnet Central, and at Chicago Poetry.com.
Sonnets was my first book conceived as such. It was reviewed online at Expansive Poetry Online, overall positively, though it was not a careful reading: Mortensen writes, "The options that Novak misses in sticking to one sonnet form, however, are manifold." While a majority were Elizabethan, there was some variance, but he did not notice it. Still, it was a thoughtful review, and I was glad to have had it.
Additional selections from the book are up at Sonnet Central, and at Chicago Poetry.com.