Analysis of Book Review



I think I will have to set it aside,
This book of new poems by a writer
I read a favorable review of and then
The single short ode to her own life
Revealing her wisdom and her sadness.

Her words and phrasing and meter
Are also the ones I would have chosen. Yes,
She writes as I do or try, weaving her self
Into the forest of visions her searching eyes
Expose with magic flare and then modestly tuck away.

But I can only read the first one,
Wrestling and stumbling through the next page,
Seeing her words, so perfectly strung, tousled
By my reckless attraction to rhyme and its reason,
As her vision enfolds me in her grasp.

Not in the way you think, though, for while she
Ensnared me with our likemindedness, she was kind
And invited me to explore her plentiful garden.
Able to wander freely within, I wander still.
I guess I’m not free—not until I turn the page.

But then where will she take me and will I
Still see what was beautiful before her words
Bade me gaze through a new prism, the one
She colors in ways like I but more perfectly than
How I had seen them before I knew her?

Time enough has passed and I find myself
Looking ahead to what awaits me the other side.
I think though that I will savor a while
Her simple quest for self-survival and how
Each page turned breathes fresh hope.


Scheme ABXXX BXCXX DEADX XXDXE XXDXB CAXXX
Poetic Form Tetractys  (20%)
Metre 1111111101 1111101010 11010001101 010111011 0100100010 01010010 11001111101 11111111001 010101100101 01110101100101 111101011 1001001011 1001110011 1110010110110 101011001 1001111111 0111101111 00101101010010 1011010011101 111111011101 1111111011 11111000101 1111011001 1100111111001 1111101110 101110111 1001110110101 1111111001 01011101001 111111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,304
Words 268
Sentences 10
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5
Lines Amount 30
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 170
Words per stanza (avg) 42

About this poem

I read the first poem in a collection by a poet I had not known. I found my own thoughts and words expressed as she expressed.

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Written on June 01, 2022

Submitted by DJGillert on June 13, 2022

Modified on March 25, 2023

1:20 min read
48

Douglas J. Gillert

Douglas Gillert was a career publicist and journalist with the Armed Forces and Department of Defense. He authored the novel "The Orchard Trail," self-published on Kindle. more…

All Douglas J. Gillert poems | Douglas J. Gillert Books

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    "Book Review" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/131370/book-review>.

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