Jen Bervin's Sonnet 18

In the erasure poem book, “Nets,” Jen Bervin utilizes the sonnets of William Shakespeare to create new poetry. The poems were created by analyzing the word choices available within his sonnets. The examination of the words helped the author to find a voice within the work. There are an infinite number of word choices available within each sonnet, and by studying the words, you can determine which voice within the poem would like to speak. The poem, “18,” was composed using William Shakespeare’s (arguably) most famous poem, “Sonnet 18.” The original sonnet is spoken to an unknown beloved, in which Shakespeare compares the beloved’s beauty to a summer’s day, and because he has written this poem, their beauty will last forever and never die (as long as people are around to read the words). The voice within the poem that Bervin uncovers retains the essence of the original …show more content…
This technique serves a purpose within the book. First, it allows the reader the ability to read the original sonnet, and then, if desired, they can infer any meaning and connection between the two poems. Secondly, because of the lighter typeface, the words of Shakespeare create a kind of ghostly image, and the voice within the poem that Bervin finds relates to this difference. In Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 63,” he addresses growing old, and that love, no matter how great, can stop the advance of time. The voice that Bervin finds within the sonnet this time appears to come from Shakespeare himself: “I am vanishing or vanished in these black lines.” With the darker typeface of the newer poem, and the ghostly words of Shakespeare haunting the background, Bervin seems to be addressing the spiritual connection between the two poems, rather than an internal thematic connection. Shakespeare’s words do indeed “vanish” within the black lines of the new