The Natural World by David Murphy ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

For lovers of Robert Frost, Elizabeth Bishop, and John Keats comes a poetry book about the beauty of nature and people. The Natural World focuses on euphony, imagery, and form. Among those forms are free verse, blank verse, the sestina, sonnet, villanelle, ode, and rondeau. This slim volume is one to luxuriate with by a fire on a winter's night, to read time and again, and to draw you from routine. (Goodreads)

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

October 2024; Dreameyrie; ebook (110 pages); poetry

I don't read a lot of poetry though I usually try to read some in April for National Poetry Month. I've mentioned before that during the pandemic I tried my hand at writing nature poems - one turned out pretty good. So when I saw a book was coming out that featured nature poems, I thought I would give it a try.

This book is a collection of more than 60 poems written by David Murphy. I'm not familiar with this poet's work but I enjoyed several of the poems in the book. 

They are not all nature poems. There are a number of poems about love and some just about life. I enjoyed the poems about nature the best but appreciated the other poems. "Bees" was one of my favorites as is it brought in some science about the life cycle of bees. "Mayfly" was another favorite for its use of language and its comparison. I particularly liked the thought-provoking ending "why, then, should we give our prime to anything but what is dearest to our hearts?"

The poems take a variety of forms - most I'm not familiar with. There is a section in the front of the book entitled Forms that gives a list of the various types of poems found in the book. The ones I was familiar with - haiku, ode (who hasn't read Ode to a Grecian Urn by John Keats), and sonnet (which always makes me think of Shakespeare). There is also rondeau, sestina, terza rima, and villanelle.

The last poem is what I would consider a short story told in verse. "The Restoration of Frost" is the terza rima example. I looked up terza rima, and Wikipedia tells me it is a "poem... consists of tercets (three-line stanzas) with an interlocking three-line rhyme scheme". 

The poem is a murder mystery with undertones of a hard-boiled detective novel. It was very well done and an enjoyable story, but I was also impressed that this form was used to tell a complete story.

Whether you are a fan of poetry, or like me and dabble in it from time to time, this is definitely a collection worth picking up.

Buy The Natural World at Amazon

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour. 

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