Sonnets

While cozied up to pages of the most romantic of poetry is both an ironic and slightly depressing way to spend Valentine's Day, I really enjoyed the change of pace for this weeks readings. Poetry in general has always been much more appealing to me than most works of prose, despite it generally being much more difficult to decipher.

Shakespeare's works always seem to discourage people from poetry. Throughout my experiences with his work in high school, the mere mentioning of the name "Shakespeare" is immediately followed by an upheaval of defeated and disgusted sighs. On the surface, his Old English gives his poetry a further level of meaning to dig through. The way he writes gives the romanticized illusion of elegance and beauty. I often found myself reading one the sonnets thinking "Oh, how nice and pretty", and then I'd read it again and realize "Oh wait. He's talking about 'making copies' of myself but only if I'm attractive". There is, undoubtedly, a great deal of romance when dealing with Shakespeare, with his comparisons of women to summer's days and the proclamations of how life means nothing without the woman he loves.

Berrigan's poetry seems to be a more relatable version of Shakespeare's work. Since we don't have to dig through this extra layer of understanding his language, it's much easier to follow. Berrigan's sonnet's did have that feeling of romanticism, but he seemed to use his poetry to trace his journey through life and love rather than as a vessel of proclamation for his love.