Official Review: Soulscape by Sufia Wright, mathew Kohnen
Posted: 22 Mar 2018, 13:51
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Soulscape" by Sufia Wright, mathew Kohnen.]
4 out of 4 stars
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Soulscape is a collection of poems by Sufia Wright and Mathew Kohnen. It explores a variety of subjects, including nature, fairy tales, love, and everyday life. Soulscape doesn't have a plot, and it is better described as a meditative journey through poetry than a typical novel. The organization is broken up into seven parts: Landscape, Seascape, Heavenscape, Dreamscape, Memoryscape, Lifescape, and Heartscape.
Wright's style of poetic writing is very structured. She relies on classical formats like the sonnet and haiku, and her writing is rhythmic, with carefully placed syllables. She usually adheres strictly to iambic pentameter or heptameter, and the themes of her poems include religion, nature, and everyday living. I found her poems about her mundane life particularly interesting since the formats of poetry she uses are typically reserved for more grandiose subjects. These poems add some personal flair to what could otherwise be a body of work that is simply derivative of classical poetry.
In contrast, Kohnen's style is extremely free-form. Other than a few haikus, he doesn't adhere to common formats like Wright does; even when writing with a sonnet's rhyme structure, he pays little mind to its pattern of stressed syllables. His writing deals with themes like romantic love and growing up as a male. These themes are much less emblematic of classical poetry than some that Wright chooses to tackle, so with less structure in his writing, form follows function quite beautifully in Kohnen's work.
Since Soulscape deals with subjects like parenthood and growing up that I won't experience for many years, I can't say I enjoyed this book to its full capacity. I can certainly appreciate the importance of these topics, though, and I found it very peaceful to read. While hardly inappropriate for younger audiences, it would be most relatable to people who have had children, so I recommend it to adult poetry lovers who are parents. I'd also recommend it to anyone with a strong appreciation of contrasting styles of poetry, even if parts of the subject matter might not be as relatable to some people.
In my opinion, what saves this anthology from mediocrity is the combination of both authors' styles. Each section starts with poems by Wright and concludes with poems by Kohnen, moving from structured to free-form in a way that feels very natural. After reading works by both authors, I felt like I had a better understanding of the subjects each segment of the book focused on than I would've had reading poems by just one person. The different formats never clashed. They only served to emphasize what made the other unique, much like a contrasting color palette. This is what elevates Soulscape from other anthologies, and is why I give the book 4 out of 4 stars.
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Soulscape
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4 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Soulscape is a collection of poems by Sufia Wright and Mathew Kohnen. It explores a variety of subjects, including nature, fairy tales, love, and everyday life. Soulscape doesn't have a plot, and it is better described as a meditative journey through poetry than a typical novel. The organization is broken up into seven parts: Landscape, Seascape, Heavenscape, Dreamscape, Memoryscape, Lifescape, and Heartscape.
Wright's style of poetic writing is very structured. She relies on classical formats like the sonnet and haiku, and her writing is rhythmic, with carefully placed syllables. She usually adheres strictly to iambic pentameter or heptameter, and the themes of her poems include religion, nature, and everyday living. I found her poems about her mundane life particularly interesting since the formats of poetry she uses are typically reserved for more grandiose subjects. These poems add some personal flair to what could otherwise be a body of work that is simply derivative of classical poetry.
In contrast, Kohnen's style is extremely free-form. Other than a few haikus, he doesn't adhere to common formats like Wright does; even when writing with a sonnet's rhyme structure, he pays little mind to its pattern of stressed syllables. His writing deals with themes like romantic love and growing up as a male. These themes are much less emblematic of classical poetry than some that Wright chooses to tackle, so with less structure in his writing, form follows function quite beautifully in Kohnen's work.
Since Soulscape deals with subjects like parenthood and growing up that I won't experience for many years, I can't say I enjoyed this book to its full capacity. I can certainly appreciate the importance of these topics, though, and I found it very peaceful to read. While hardly inappropriate for younger audiences, it would be most relatable to people who have had children, so I recommend it to adult poetry lovers who are parents. I'd also recommend it to anyone with a strong appreciation of contrasting styles of poetry, even if parts of the subject matter might not be as relatable to some people.
In my opinion, what saves this anthology from mediocrity is the combination of both authors' styles. Each section starts with poems by Wright and concludes with poems by Kohnen, moving from structured to free-form in a way that feels very natural. After reading works by both authors, I felt like I had a better understanding of the subjects each segment of the book focused on than I would've had reading poems by just one person. The different formats never clashed. They only served to emphasize what made the other unique, much like a contrasting color palette. This is what elevates Soulscape from other anthologies, and is why I give the book 4 out of 4 stars.
******
Soulscape
View: on Bookshelves
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