Sonnet 56

by Paul Hoover

Sonnet 56 mixes Love, Poetry and Shakespeare in a marvelous grab bag of form, wit and playfulness. Starting with Shakespeare’s sonnet 56—Sweet love, renew thy force, be it not said / Thy edge should blunter be than appetite,—Hoover writes 56 poetic variations, turning Shakespeare’s sonnet into a series of new (and traditional) forms, including: Villanelle, Noun Plus Seven, Limerick, Blues, Course Description, Flarf, Imagist, Tanka, Answering Machine, Rilke, Morse Code and Bad Writing. The result is tender portrayal of love and an excellent survey of the possibilities within contemporary poetry.

Sonnet 56 is published as part of the TrenchArt: Maneuvers Series, with an Introduction by Oulipo member Ian Monk and visual art by VD Collective.

Genres: Poetry

81 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[D.A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's been a post-modern passion for playing with Shakespeare's sonnets (Stephen Ratcliffe's "[where late the:] Sweet Birds Sang," Aaron Shurin's "Involuntary Lyrics"). How we construct and deconstruct ideas of the body through this straightforward yet opaque discourse upon mortality and desire is a question that should continue to resonate through contemporary poetry. And how this does, at the same time, compound the artist's sense of anxiety regarding vocation. None so brave, then, as Paul Hoover, who assails the conventions and unconventions of a single sonnet, reimagined in all its various possibilities, yet still springing from Shakespeare's seminal language. Hoover's unerring ear transforms the 56th sonnet into as many versions of itself as it can enumerate. He has made the poem live in so many artful bodies, each the progeny of an both an old master and a new master, yet nonetheless masterful.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book might seem gimmicky, many rewritings of Sonnet 56, but most of the rewrites are interesting, providing new insights into the poem, and also into the many forms it takes. The "Preface" is interesting; I like the Sestina. Some of them are forgettable, but it's the project that is worthwhile, tracking the many mutations and what we learn about the poem from its revisions.
Highly recommended!

[Todd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author (Paul Hoover) transforms Shakespeare's Sonnet 56 into an entire book full of retellings in various genres. This is a great one to use to illustrate revision and how pouring the same content from one container into another transforms the content itself.

[Christopherseelie · Rating 3 out of 5]

An excellent formal exercise, taking an existing poem (the suitably canonical Sonnet 56 by Shakespeare) and rendering it various forms, styles, and pastiche. I am impressed by the cleverness of the writer, but cannot say I was moved in any way by the writing; hence 3 stars.