A review by persimmon_lover
The Art of Syntax: Rhythm of Thought, Rhythm of Song by Ellen Bryant Voigt

challenging informative reflective tense slow-paced

4.0

This book contains a relatively thorough syntactic analysis of many poems. I think it could have been better organized, with more concrete highlighting of specific syntactic forms and methods summarized at the end of each analysis rather than only focusing on the detailed analyses of each poem. The main concepts of the book, the idea of the rhythm and unfolding of thoughts via syntactic forms, was simple and interesting, and applied in concrete ways throughout. There are also a wide variety of types of poems used for illustration. The main takeaway for me was how syntactic forms can highlight meaning supplied by words, rhythm, and lineation, and how they can pace the unfolding of images in a way that adds a layer of expression to the poem as a whole. Would be interested in a more highly technical analysis of individual poems that delve deeper into the expressive possibilities of other syntactic forms. Haj Ross has a 12 page analysis of Pied Beauty by Hopkins, seems like a good companion.
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