Ted Berrigan Rhetorical Devices

In his thirty eighth sonnet, Ted Berrigan reminisces on a brief moment from a summer during his childhood. Berrigan utilizes both elegiac and narrative elements in this sonnet to describe the memory. The sonnet begins with a sense of nostalgia, as Berrigan writes “in the dark neighborhoods of my own sad youth, I fall in love. once” (Berrigan 25). I find the metaphor he uses to describe his youth to be very pessimistic. The words “dark” and “sad” really echo each other and create a somewhat melancholic tone.

This line can easily be interpreted as Berrigan claiming to have fallen in love once during the time of his youth. This is possibly because of the way Berrigan inserts a notable line break between “love” and “once.” The white space

Berrigan recalls a moment where he prompts his peers to put away their books. Berrigan rhetorically asks them “who shall speak of us when we are gone?” (Berrigan 25). This line gives insight on Berrigan’s outlook on life during the time. Perhaps Berrigan’s cynicism stemmed from the moment he fell in love in the dark neighborhoods of his sad youth. What’s even more engrossing is the rest of the aforementioned line; after asking the question, Berrigan moves on to say “let them wear scarves in the once a day snow, crying in the kitchen of my heart” (Berrigan 25). At first glance, this statement can appear to be nonsensical and rather confusing. However, I believe that there is a very complex metaphor being used here. I have no interpretation of this line; perhaps it is not meant to be

Instead, they resemble a blank verse. But, it is important to note that the ending of the previous line rhymes with the very last line of the sonnet. Berrigan closes with “a breath of cool rain in those streets, clinging together with slightly detached air” (Berrigan 25). These two lines are very ambiguous and vague. “Those streets” could be linked to the metaphor Berrigan used earlier when describing the dark neighborhoods of his own sad youth. This interpretation becomes increasingly plausible when connecting the entire line to the earlier metaphor. A “breath of cool rain” could be a glimmer of hope or optimism amidst the darkness of Berrigan’s “ dark