Berrigan and Lerner Response

Ted Berrigan’s The Sonnets opens with a poem that characterizes the purpose and aim of the collection. Berrigan’s book plays with variation of form and word formation while simultaneously telling a story. I honestly can’t say that I don’t know exactly what the story is, but the focus of the collection is on both content and configuration. Experimenting and “updating” the sonnet style of poetry, Berrigan freely navigates the effectiveness and failures of the form. Some of the most successful poems in the explorative sonnet form (successful meaning an effective and comprehensive use of form and language) are the ones addressed to different people (Marge or Ron). It is in these poems, like “XVIII” that the stories and form collaborate in a piece that encompasses time, comprehension, and creativity.
Time as well as arrangement played a questionable role in Berrigan’s collection. The book begins with six poems numbered Roman numerically followed by various traditional, modern, and regularly titled poems. The non-numerical poems introduce and reveal the story aspects of Berrigan’s work. Yet, there is a reason Berrigan chose to open with the numerically titled poems. I suspect that his reasoning behind this is to use the first six poems to play with and rearrange poetic techniques, while the next five titled poems bring in the substance of story. Consequently you have moved passed the beginning of the book when you reach the end of the titled poems, when substance meets sequence.
In comparison to Berrigan’s beginning, Ben Lerner’s introductory poems (in The Lichtenberg Figures) have a different focus. Lerner’s opening poem is very dark and violent, which is an underlying and sometimes surfacing theme throughout the collection. Much shorter than, Berrigan’s opening, the shift from the beginning of Lerner’s poems come after about the third poem. The first three poems setup the rebellion and negativity that will be explored throughout the book in relation to form, relationships, and events. Lerner uses the violence in the collection in association with his idea of form opposition.
I like and agree with Nicolette’s interpretation of the Lichtenberg Figures. The poem on page nine incorporates the idea of aftermath. Lerner composed a poem of responses, excuses, and reactions which emit the sense of frustration and anger found throughout the book. The mood and emotions of Lerner’s poems is not just the result of events, but also in response to what Lerner considers to be an unsuccessful form. Lerner’s explanation to his alternative style is embedded in his poem on page 10.