Empty Page Sonnet

Klara Sulce

Mr. Perez

6 November 2011

English AP

Robert Pack’s most inspiring piece of work is “An Echo Sonnet: To an Empty Page”. The use of literary devices in the sonnet contribute drastically to its meaning. The two apparent literary terms are apostrophe and the use of dialogue to help the reader better interpret what the poem is getting across. He displays forth a conversation that the “voice” partakes in with the “echo”, thus leaving the reader to believe that he is truly grief-stricken by some kind of tragedy.

Whether it is a death or the loss of a lover, it is quite apparent that the voice is recuperating from some sort of heartbreak. This is because of the quatrains he creates in the sonnet. For example, in the second line the states “And starting must I master joy or grief?” To which the echo replies, “Grief”. He is essentially saying that upon undergoing a death or loss of some sort, should one start fresh and move on, or grief some more in hopes of someday forgetting. The reader is deprived of an answer to these rhetorical questions because either decision made will cause pain and heartache to the voice.

As the sonnet progresses, he goes on to declare, “Her beauty makes of dying, ecstasy”. And the echo’s response is “see.” This explains the reader’s reflection of the sonnet being addressed to someone who has passed away and makes dying worth looking forward to. The voice has undergone a horrible misfortune that ultimately leads him to be alone and receive responses solely from his echo, whom turns his rhetorical questions into one word answers.