Sonnet Writing

In Judith Rodriguez piece In-flight note, the author illustrates a sonnet within a sonnet that tells the story of a boy writing a love letter on a plane. As she watches over his shoulder, the author acts in an invasive yet inquisitive manner as she intrudes on the love that the boy is trying to express. He seems reluctant to write and torn between his decision to leave and his love for his teenage beau. As she watches him write, “It’s naive to think we could be just good friends,” she appears to be bitter, frustrated and jaded about love in general. As if a friendship has been loved and lost or a past lover has walked from her in the same way the boy has left. With the use of her language and ideas that she is expressing, it is as though ridiculing the boy for falling in love. As she ends the piece with, “Pages and pages. And so the whole world ends,” she demonstrates a vivid and dramatic line that reflects a young and teenage love. It shows that the author believes that this love is not over and it will continue to play out in life or in thoughts of both the teenagers, for years to come. The striking thing about this sonnet is that although it has a sour feel about it, it is like the author is well aware of heartbreak herself and in criticizing the boy she is in fact criticizing herself from afar. Although the sonnet does not openly reflect a love poem, it still paints a picture of the harsh, cruel heartbreak and pain that it can