Sonnets

After reading the sonnets, I am left wondering the exact meaning of any particular sonnet. I understand that the obscurity of Shakespeare's and Berrigan's sonnets are what make them so great. However, I feel if there was some sort of context given before reading the sonnets it would give the reader a better understanding of the text, thus enabling us to get more out of the work. I feel that to the average reader, most of these would just look like jumbled words thrown haphazardly on a page. I feel that it is our job as literary students to find relation to these sonnets in our own lives. Personally Berrigan's sonnet XXIX had the most impact on me. After much pondering I have come to the conclusion that this sonnet stood out to me the most because of word placement, and how it comes before sonnet XXX. "Now she guards her chalice in a temple of fear" is a powerful sentence being used in both of these sonnets in two completely different ways. It had such a personal impact on me because of the way the context of the statement has been changed in such a minute way, but still creates fresh and new meaning.