Wide-ranging discussion of aspects of sonnet history combines in this study with analysis of single poems, by poets from Hoffmannswaldau to Weinheber, to illuminate ways in wich the German sonnet has functioned as a vehicle for a conscious aesthetic traditionalism serving a variety of poetic intentions. Particular stress is laid on the important part played by translation in the transmission of the traditional form, the final chapter being devoted to a survey of German versions of Shakespeare's Sonnets.