Published by University Paperbacks this is a collection of essays on the poetry of Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585). The essays cover many aspects of Ronsard’s prolific output and although they are not a chronological study they have been well edited by Terence Cave and provide an excellent introduction to the whole range of his poetry. Ronsard is probably best remembered for his love poetry and his role as leader of the Pléiade group in 16th century renaissance France, but the essays emphasise as well his role as a courtier at the French court and his requirement to produce poems for state occasions; jousting tournaments, masques and parades, government propaganda, epitaphs and odes.

The first essay provides a general critique of the poetry bringing out it’s main themes and style, this is followed by a closer look at the love poetry concentrating on the Amours de Cassandra and the Sonets for Helen. Terence Cave’s excellent preface points out that to really understand the major themes then the reader needs to understand the viewpoint of a 16th century renaissance man and the next two essays go a long way into examining this criteria. The first covers the role that neoplatonism played in Ronsard’s thoughts and includes a brief review of the universe as it was understood by educated people at the time: concentric circles, the harmony of the spheres and the four basic elements with the earth at the centre and a God like presence outside the cosmos. The second essay deals with Ronsard’s mythological universe: as a well read humanist thinker Ronsard had at his disposal a whole series of stories from mainly Greek mythology and he uses them throughout his oeuvre. There is an interesting essay on the idea of music in the poetry and Brian Jeffrey dispels the myth that Ronsard was a musician who wrote many of his poems to be set to music. An essay on the political and polemical works provides much needed background on the state of the nation. Ronsard was a catholic and he writes to underpin the governments position at a time when France was entering into its religious war period. The penultimate essay deals with the later poetry at a time when Ronsard had effectively retired from public life. The final essay looks at one of Ronsard’s love sonnets from the Amours de Marie collection and is interesting because it examines his writing methods. Ronsard was in the habit of revising his poems for various collections and publications and by looking at various versions of the same poem the reader gets an idea of his way off working.

All in all the essays provide an extensive overview of the poetry and although written by different authors they have been edited so effectively that they seem almost seamless. There are many extracts from the poetry, for use as examples, and these are in the original 16th century French with no English translations, however the commentary on them is usually detailed enough to make them coherent to non French speakers. These essays do serve to enhance any readings of Ronsard’s poetry and they will encourage the reader to go further than just the love poetry. A four star read for those that like this sort of thing ( )