A Vers De Société Anthology

This elegant anthology celebrates vers de société in all its polished, playful variety: love lyrics, flirtatious exchanges, witty ballads, and graceful poems of courtship, beauty, and social life. Collected by Carolyn Wells, it gathers voices from Shakespeare, Herrick, Donne, Ben Jonson, Sidney, Tennyson, Browning, and many others, tracing the art of refined verse from Renaissance courtly song to Victorian and fin-de-siècle charm. The opening discussion wryly examines the elusive meaning of society verse, weighing critics' differing views before arriving at its essential qualities: brevity, ease, wit, lightness, restraint, and deep craftsmanship. Throughout the book, love appears as delight, temptation, disappointment, and game, while poems on roses, letters, fashion, ballroom manners, springtime, and modern relationships reveal changing customs with humor and tenderness. The result is a sparkling tour of elegant poetry, where irony and affection coexist and even the lightest lines carry lasting grace. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.