Review of A Walk Through Life: The Complete Anthology

[Sarrikoziol]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "A Walk Through Life: The Complete Anthology" by Arthurine B Rice.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Let me begin by stating I love poetry in all forms. It is one of the reasons I chose to review A Walk Through Life: The Complete Anthology Poems by Arthurine B. Rice. I was truly excited to get started, dive in, and be transported by the words on the page. I was highly disappointed. While it is a short collection, I had a hard time wanting to finish this book.

The collection contains poems ranging throughout the author’s life. It discusses things such as childbirth, affairs, death, racism, and joy. Some of the poetry flows nicely, but I would say they are few and far between. Many of them start off rhyming every other word, and in the middle stray and stop rhyming at all. There are poems where the sentences are oddly broken. The author tried to rhyme some words which do not rhyme at all, breaking up the flow of the poem. Overall, it was very rough.

The whole book contains nine chapters for a total of eighty-one pages. The poetry ranged from 1984 to 2007. Each chapter was given a theme for which the poetry contained within followed. For example, one chapter was ,aptly named, “Experiencing the Seasons.” It contained three poems. One was about Christmas. The other two touched on Fall and Spring. I was a little disappointed as it only mentioned two of the four seasons in a year. And while we do refer to it as being the “Christmas Season”, it is not truly a season. I was expecting more and received much less than anticipated. On the other hand, this chapter was by far my favorite.

Arthurine B. Rice has been recognized and awarded many honors. She received the Merit Certificate and the Golden Post Award from the World of Poetry in 1989. Plus, she was inducted into the International Poetry Hall of Fame located at the National Library of Poetry in 1996 just to name a few. You can imagine my surprise when such an educated woman published poetry I found it hard to want to finish reading. Her word usage was decent at best, but I simply cannot get over the fact she was rhyming words that did not fit. An example from page 31, the poem is named “Comforting a Friend.” She writes:
“Come, stay with me
Let me love, comfort and please thee.
Come, try something new.
All these things were bought just for you.
Come, sit at my table.
Eat and drink until you are no longer able.
Come, share your pain.
I’m willing to listen until you feel better again.
Come, sing a song.
For with music, words are soothing and warm.
Come laugh, or come cry.
These tender moments will only be cherished by you and I
Come stay with me.
Come…”

The only thing I liked about this collection of poetry was the diversity she touched on. I did find a few typos. They were minor, but a couple of them detracted from my reading even more. I dislike rating a book in this manner; however, I have to meagerly award A Walk Through Life: The Complete Anthology Poems of Arthurine B. Rice 2 out of 4 stars. I hesitantly recommend this book to individuals who like poetry. I would conclude it is for mature readers as some of the topics are more adult. It contained no profanities. There are some religious notes within the poetry. While I am not an overly religious person, the references did not bother me in the least. I found them to be fitting with the poem containing said references. This particular book was not my cup of tea, but it may find a different audience to love it.

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A Walk Through Life: The Complete Anthology
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[Dimi1]

Poetry is always tricky and I really dislike it when rhyming seems forced, which is why I 'll probably skip reading the book. Thanks for a great insight!

[Sarrikoziol]

Poetry is always tricky and I really dislike it when rhyming seems forced, which is why I 'll probably skip reading the book. Thanks for a great insight!

Understandable as I feel the same way. If you are going to rhyme, it needs to be all the way through and come naturally.