The title Sonnets of Barely Innocence and Experience by Abraham Rogers draws inspiration from the romantic poet William Blake’s collection. Rogers has a preface about the background and making of the sonnets. The preface makes it clear that form is required for a poem to work well. Though I am all for contemporary free verse, I agree that these days free verse poetry is not always skillfully written, nor does it have a profound meaning as it should. 

The poetry collection is without a doubt thoughtfully put together and appeals to a wide variety of relatable topics. I have a lot of favorites from this collection. From ‘Rich Man Poor Man’ to ‘Describing My Surroundings’ to a poem inspired by YouTuber creator Ryan Higa’s “Nice Guys Finish Last,” I enjoyed many of the sonnets. 

My favorite section is the one with sonnets about death. Rogers has a way of appealing to a central message, cutting to the psyche to make us think and reflect with some poems. I love the imagery Rogers chooses to use in different poems. “Death is never full,” “death is leisure’s most pleasant vial,” “pain gives you that tingly kiss.” “From a blank tablet we engrave, we came.”

Rogers inserts different references from Shakespeare to Beowulf into the sonnets, making for a classic experience. I also noticed how the usage of the word “xotic” means exotic but also can be rearranged to form the word toxic. The sonnets reminded me of John Keats in style and choice of topics, though I am unsure if Rogers had Keats in mind when writing the sonnets. 

Although, as much as Rogers claims to lean away from contemporaries, lines such as “Love is an emotion like no other” are too simplistic and quote-like. Rogers already mentions in the preface of the simplicity of his poems, but occasionally the poems in this collection portray an excess of simplicity in terms of meaning and language. On top of this, the closing poem is weaker in tone compared to the others, and the tapering off makes for a lesser impact in terms of ending or closing. There should be a more careful method of selection in terms of which sonnet goes where in the structure of the collection. 

Overall, Sonnets of Barely Innocence and Experience is a solid collection of sonnets and I look forward to seeing what else Abraham Rogers has to offer. It’s not easy to write poetry, let alone so many sonnets and good sonnets at that. I commend the poet for these clever sonnets.