Books of literary criticism do not frequently make you laugh out loud, and they reference Kanye West’s ‘Gold Digger’ even less frequently, yet Don Paterson’s Reading Shakespeare’s Sonnets manages to do both while still providing a perceptive and erudite commentary on the most famous collection of poems in the English language.

The book consists of Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets printed in full, with each followed by a three to four page essay giving a basic gloss, some comments on the language and style, a deeper reading, and a rag-bag of other thoughts and ideas. No two essays are alike in their approach, and each adapts its self to the requirements of the preceding poem. The easy-going, often tongue-in-cheek, and decidedly un-academic approach Don Paterson uses is in stark contrast to the usual sober tone of such books, a difference Paterson defends succinctly: “Serious literary criticism, fair enough; but overly serious literary criticism does literature a wee bit of a disservice, because it fails to honour the spirit of play in which the work was conceived. Can’t we lighten up?” And lighten up Don Paterson certainly does, writing while he is “wide awake, bored, half-asleep, full of the cold, drunk, or hungover” but still reaming eloquent, amusing and thought-provoking throughout.

Furthermore, it is not just Shakespeare’s work that is illumined; digressions into the more technical aspects of versification will provide the reader with the tools to approach any poet’s work in a fresh and stimulating way. Indeed, Don Paterson’s own poetry may come to mind on reading certain passages: writing in his discussion of sonnet 44 that “it’s not the distances between stars you feel most acutely, it’s the distance that opens up between you and the beloved” one thinks of the poem ‘The Day’ from his 2009 collection Rain: “there’s no more we traverse / than the space between us. The sun up there’s no farther. / We’re each of us a separate universe.”

For those who have read the sonnets a hundred times, the essays will reveal new angles and unnoticed aspects, and for those who have never read them the essays will provide a thrilling counterpoint to their own first thoughts on these oft-quoted classics. The only worry is that Don Paterson’s approach of revising his notes on each sonnet as little as possible will leave those unfamiliar with poetic terminology none the wiser, as he assumes a level of expert knowledge that many may lack. The appendix on the sonnet form which comes at the end of the book might have been better placed at the start, to provide readers with a basic understanding of the terms Paterson uses.

There are many things one could praise this book for but amongst the highest must be Don Paterson’s service to Shakespeare, for he brings him back down to earth and makes him human once more. As one of the best British poets writing today, Don Paterson can write of Shakespeare as a fellow craftsman in the art of poetry. He acknowledges Shakespeare’s superiority (“I’d still take the least of WS’s poems over just about anyone else’s best”) but is never afraid to remind us that he was fallible. By forgoing the ‘Bardolatry’ which is all too common, we are reminded that Shakespeare was prone to the same emotions and shortcomings as the rest of us. This puts the nature of his genius into sharper focus than when he dwells among the gods, and helps us to reconnect with the poems as objects of stunning beauty that still speak directly to us.

Bookmark to