Assignment #4 Book Review

For my book review I choose a book of poems by Stanley Moss titled "Skull of Adam." The book includes 42 poems by Moss divided up into four different chapters. Through reading the poems in this collection it is clear that Moss does have a specific style and that many of the poems are very similar to one another. For instance Moss writes almost entirely in free verse. The line lengths in his poems vary widely and I could find very few lines where a rhythm could be detected. Most of the poems in this book are very similar in length to one another however lines and groups of lines are divided using many different methods. Some of the poems have no division while others are divided by divided into segments broken up by Roman Numerals.
The majority of these poems are written in the first person and all give the feeling that the author is the narrator and these poems are his personal thoughts on life. Two of the poems included in this book, one called "On Seeing an X-Ray of my head" and "Vomit" are very clearly reflections of incidents in the authors life and how these times made him think and feel. In a way because of this these poems become predictable because they are all stories and thoughts from this mans life and they all are about whatever the title states. Poems such as "Janes Grandmother", "The Frog", or "The Dog" are examples of this all including scenes featuring the person or animal referred to in their title.
The diction of the poems in this book are often formal however this is not always the case and the vocabulary is well in the range of the average reader. These poems are enjoyable to read and in many cases include vivid imagery however they can be very depressing and often include descriptions and metaphors of death. This feeling of death and loss pervades this book and there are also frequent religious references and poems centered upon God and others which speak of other religious figures such as Buddha. Even the books title "Skull of Adam" seems to refer to both death as well as religion. To add to the somber mood of these poems in several of these poems the author appears to be looking back on his childhood and times of adolescence and in these poems there is an especially bittersweet feeling also creating a feeling of loss. Aside from the format of these poems growing predictable and the some what depressing I did enjoy many of these poems and would recommend them to anyone who has an interest in reading poetry. If I were to speak with this author I would like to ask him about his poem "Poem Before Marriage". This poem really struck me and features many metaphors such as a seagull and a turtle and I would really like to know the authors reason for titling this piece "Poem Before Marriage". Unlike all of the other poems in this book where the titles are evident in the poem this one is a mystery and was my favorite poem in this book.