Official Review: Tirade of the Heart by Beaumont Todd

[miriam123373]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Tirade of the Heart" by Beaumont Todd.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Do you find yourself wondering what thoughts pass through the reflective mind of a man as he looks into the eyes of his love or out over the vastness of the sea? “Tirade of the Heart” by Beaumont Todd offers the reader that intimate perspective in a book of poetry intertwined with the author’s simple thoughts and quotes. Though not classified as such, “Tirade of the Heart” is a work of nonfiction, breathing life from its pages thanks to the authenticity of Todd’s words. You can feel the author’s love in his verses to a woman, and you can touch the author’s tears in his details of depression.

“Tirade of the Heart” opens with a chapter entitled, “The Love of My Heart,” unveiling Todd’s unique poetic style of writing in elongated stanzas with a juxtaposition of rhyme schemes and free form poetry. “Upon my lips your sweet honey drop and petal-soft lips were pressed,” Todd writes, opening his heart in a letter-like format to you as though you, the reader, are his lover. Todd’s use of imagery and metaphor take center stage in this chapter, as the reader becomes lost in the beautiful entanglement of two lovers. Each poem flows freely from the prior, as though the chapter is one single thought without pause or strain.

The book continues with a brief chapter entitled, “My Overwhelming Sadness,” depicting a broken heart and a world without love, followed by another short chapter entitled “My Lonely Soul” as Todd begins to “let you go, with a tear in my eye.”

Finally accepting heartbreak, Todd continues to a chapter entitled “Thoughts of a Philosophical Mind,” asking how to measure love, what freedom means in a world in which we are slaves to culture and emotional pain, and what constitutes beauty. In this chapter, Todd’s usual grace of writing shifts to a more convoluted form, cluttered with cliché ideology. This cliché rambling persists in the subsequent chapter, “The Joy of Friendship,” only to subside in the sixth chapter, “The Beauty of Nature.”

In “The Beauty of Nature,” Todd cautiously returns to his stunning use of imagery and metaphor as he gives thanks to nature and reflects upon how his self shows through nature’s mirror. This cautious return to fluid stanzas and uniquely descriptive images continues in the final chapter, “Inspiration,” as Todd struggles to create melodious phrasing in his odes to light, to God, and to his son, even breaking from his long, free form stanzas to a traditional AABB rhyme scheme when writing to his son. In this final chapter, when writing to his love, Todd’s voice returns with full beauty. The same occurs when writing of depression in the poem, “Fallen”; however, the minute that poem turns to finding hope, the writing becomes cliché and the stanzas staccato.

“Tirade of the Heart” evidences Todd’s skillful gift of crafting images of love. He does so with such beauty and grace that your body is left swaying in the music of his writing for hours after reading. However, while Todd’s love poems sing to the reader, his poems on other subjects are lacking, resulting in a rating of 2 out of 4 stars. The book is well worth the investment simply to explore Todd’s view on love, but nearly two-thirds of the book leave the reader questioning whether Todd simply did not invest the same heart or time into poems about life, friends, and family. Further, while “Tirade of the Heart” is like a journal into the thoughts of a poetic soul, the title is misleading, creating anticipation of an intensity and pain that is not present in a book filled with gratitude, beauty, and hope.

Whether you choose to read the book in its entirety or focus solely on Todd’s love poems, “Tirade of the Heart” offers a fast read that will keep you coming back to re-experience the sensual touch of Todd’s romantic thoughts. What more can you ask for than a poem serenading you with thoughts that “your sweet whispers make the very trees turn from green to red and blush?”

A review by Mirissa D. Price

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Tirade of the Heart
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[Jesska6029]

It's a shame the poems are lacking in diversity. Good review!

[miriam123373]

Thank you Jesska6029 for reading this review. The author has such a skill for love poems, and I will be interested to see if he is able to harness that gift and apply it towards other subjects in future publications.