Author Description

This book contains 15 verse paraphrases of the Song of Songs published from 1549 through 1881, by poets such as Francis Quarles, George Wither, William Baldwin & Elizabeth Rowe. These range from the very interpretive to the straightforward, from works of great beauty to doggerel, from the ornate to the plain. All testify in their own way to the power of the original and how deeply it has influenced English poetry and the human heart. The editor provides his own 2005 paraphrase in an appendix.