Poetry collection review: 40 Sonnets (2015) by Don Paterson.

It is time for another book review... For this review, I am looking at Don Paterson's poetry collection 40 Sonnets (2015). This is a fun collection that shifts tone from the somewhat serious mellow tone of his last collection I reviewed - Rain (2009). This collection offers something different. Obviously it offers 40 different sonnets but they are not just 'sonnets'. The sonnets here are also unique and varied from one another. First of all, they are structurally different from one another. A lot of you probably have a certain view of how a sonnet should look and be structured, which could well be based from having some of Shakespeare's sonnets. But sonnets can be so much more and unexpected at times.

Paterson's collection also allows his thoughts and his queries to be highlighted. I like how his poem 'An Incarnation' is his side of a phone call conversation in which he seems to be asked he is who he is meant to be. I found the whole poem rather comical. I find that sometimes his poems do strike the right comical chord with me. Paterson is one of these poets where when humour is needed, it is provided. Likewise, when melancholy is called for, there it is. Further to this, he does it in a way that keeps in tying with the rest of the collection as a whole. From having a séance, to speaking to the council, this collection offers a wide range of wonderfully written sonnets. I loved reading this collection and am giving this a 8.5/10.


Until next time,


Thomas.

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