Ted Berrigan and William Carlos Williams (with reflections from Shakespeare)

In William Carlos William’s “On Measure: a letter to Cid Corman” he speaks of an abandonment of previous and “old” styles of writing through the disregard of the correct definition of measure, verse and count. A fine example of this exile of traditional way is Ted Berrigan’s sonnets. When compared to Shakespeare’s sonnets Ted Berrigan’s are feeble and uneducated versions, lacking of rhyme scheme, verse structure, and pentameter. Shakespeare’s older more traditional sonnets show the true form of writing and form, and are what should serve as the basis for proper writing, not the search for a new measure as William Carlos Williams mentions towards the end of his text.