Barrigan/Learner

The first thing that I found interesting about Ted Berrigan's book, "the sonnets", is that this book went against what I believed sonnets to be. When I think of sonnets I think of Shakespeare's particular structure, believing that the form is pretty much cut and dry. This is not the case in this book; Berrigan works to creatively revive the sonnet in a way that is not boring and bland. He maintains the different elements that are past along with the tradition of sonnets, but twists and reshapes the form of the sonnet to fit his desires. To me this re-shaping of the sonnet is struggled against towards the beginning of the book, and then Barrigan creates a gradual move from the conventional into the experimental. Yet, the underlying form is not manipulated; he maintains the integrity of the sonnet while manipulating it.