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htoo's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
fast-paced
4.0
This collection of poems is a great exploration into the realities of mix race heritage and its implications (past and present). The writing is clear, concise, and accessible. I can tell a lot of research went into this collection. I just wish the artworks that the poems were based on were included in the collection.
hidingincorners's review against another edition
5.0
Trethewey is my favorite poet. This collection is beautiful, rich, and the images she produces come so clearly to my mind. She astounds me every time.
tealeafbooks's review against another edition
5.0
"Taxonomy" was familiar, and since reading that in a class, I hoped to eventually read this book.
A strong collection. Read it.
A strong collection. Read it.
jalexpulliamkepler's review against another edition
5.0
Absolutely stunning discussion of what it is to be biracial in America as well as the relationship between father and daughter. Every child of a parent less oppressed than they will find themselves in these pages.
donasbooks's review against another edition
5.0
Tretheway's Thrall is full of gorgeous poetry. And yet, when I review my notes for this review, I wrote first that the work in this collection is "not beautiful," but is "stunning and startling in its use of form, line break, and many other techniques..." I can only understand this early apprehension of mine as naive, maybe fearful of discomfort and growth. Tretheway's courage to defy traditional forms and experiment defines her poetry and uplifts her message: I'm here and I matter.
Tretheway's use of form is signature: I recognize the tradition but I am something different from it, says this experimentation. The untraditional stanza shape and sizes, ending midsentence, line breaks in unexpected places, familiar forms adapted, and more. For examples, see "Taxonomy" on p22-3 and "Rotation" p55.
Using pieces of art depicting people of color throughout history from the distortion of a white lens, Tretheway writes descriptive a revelatory after poems. Tretheway is a mixed race poet, so many of these poems take on an incredibly personal narrative for her: one part of herself writing to the other, or herself as black daughter writing to her white father. These poems are wrought with emotion and technical greatness; my favorite of this type is "Kitchen Maid" p27. This whole book communicates revelatory racial truths that amaze me to the point of awe. "Thrall" p59-65 for example changed forever the way I think about freedom and servitude.
A few personal favorite pieces in this collection are "Geography 2" p46, which treats time in a beautiful, captivating way, particularly in the last 3 lines; and "Geography 3" p47 and "How the Past" p72, both of which are lovely examples of metapoetry.
If you love poetry for beauty, you will love this collection. If you love poetry for technique, you will love this collection. If you don't know if you love poetry, but you want to find out, I recommend this collection as a great place to jump in. Thrall is not only one of my favorite poetry collections now, but one of my favorite books of all time.
Tretheway's use of form is signature: I recognize the tradition but I am something different from it, says this experimentation. The untraditional stanza shape and sizes, ending midsentence, line breaks in unexpected places, familiar forms adapted, and more. For examples, see "Taxonomy" on p22-3 and "Rotation" p55.
Using pieces of art depicting people of color throughout history from the distortion of a white lens, Tretheway writes descriptive a revelatory after poems. Tretheway is a mixed race poet, so many of these poems take on an incredibly personal narrative for her: one part of herself writing to the other, or herself as black daughter writing to her white father. These poems are wrought with emotion and technical greatness; my favorite of this type is "Kitchen Maid" p27. This whole book communicates revelatory racial truths that amaze me to the point of awe. "Thrall" p59-65 for example changed forever the way I think about freedom and servitude.
A few personal favorite pieces in this collection are "Geography 2" p46, which treats time in a beautiful, captivating way, particularly in the last 3 lines; and "Geography 3" p47 and "How the Past" p72, both of which are lovely examples of metapoetry.
If you love poetry for beauty, you will love this collection. If you love poetry for technique, you will love this collection. If you don't know if you love poetry, but you want to find out, I recommend this collection as a great place to jump in. Thrall is not only one of my favorite poetry collections now, but one of my favorite books of all time.
maenad_wordsmith's review against another edition
This is a fantastic book (as is her earlier book, Native Guard, which I read about six years ago). Natasha Trethewey's writing is superb. I am inspired by her use of ekphrasis to explore the lives of multiracial people, and moved by her poems about her relationship with her father. I think my favorite poem is the one about marginalia--"Illumination."
pearloz's review against another edition
3.0
Elegy - Sad one about her father, ostensibly about fly fishing w/ her father.
"You must remember how/the river seeped in over your boots/and how you grew heavier with that defeat"
"You kept casting/your line, and when it did not come back/empty, it was tangled with mine"
Miracle of the Black Leg - Poem in 4 distinct sections traces the provenance of a story: that of a white person losing a leg and having a black leg attached as a replacement. It seems to trace artwork exclusively. In every one the black donor is treated merely as a sacrifice.
On Captivity - Seems to be about a slave ship over taken by the captives (this based solely on the epigraph)--or, more specifically, how the sailors covered themselves after being stripped: by using pages from the bible.
"Think of it:/a woman holding before her/the torn leaves of Genesis/and a man covering himself/with the Good Book's/frontispiece--his own name/inscribed on the page."
Taxonomy - In four parts, one each for four paintings by Juan Rodriguez Juarez. The paintings are apparently about different races of people coming together and their offspring. Titles like "De Espanol y De India Produce Mestiso" (itself used for the dust jacket) really spell the bi-racial nature of the subject matter.
"How not to see/in this gesture/the mind/of the colony"
Kitchen Maid - Again about a painting.
Knowledge - Yep. This one sounds like a medical drawing about lady parts.
The Americans - A series of 3 poems (Dissecting the White Negro, Blood, Help), all of which, again, seem to be examining works of art which depict bi-racial subjects.
Dissecting: "to strip from the flesh/the specious skin" and "so/deep the tincture/-see it!-/we still know white from not"
Blood: this one about a light-skinned girl sitting in a field full of black people working behind her: "Mezzo,/intermediate, how different she's rendered/from the dark kin working the fields behind her./If not for the ray of light appearing as if from beyond/the canvas, we might miss them--three figures/in the near distance, small as an after thought." Ouch.
Later, right around Mythology, the book shifts its focus from the external exploration of art to a more internal exploration of herself, her history, her identity as bi-racial (although Mano Prieta I think is about a photograph of the poet as a young girl and her mother's hand).
Torna Atras - A return to scrutinizing artwork, this time a poem about a descendent regressing.
"You must remember how/the river seeped in over your boots/and how you grew heavier with that defeat"
"You kept casting/your line, and when it did not come back/empty, it was tangled with mine"
Miracle of the Black Leg - Poem in 4 distinct sections traces the provenance of a story: that of a white person losing a leg and having a black leg attached as a replacement. It seems to trace artwork exclusively. In every one the black donor is treated merely as a sacrifice.
On Captivity - Seems to be about a slave ship over taken by the captives (this based solely on the epigraph)--or, more specifically, how the sailors covered themselves after being stripped: by using pages from the bible.
"Think of it:/a woman holding before her/the torn leaves of Genesis/and a man covering himself/with the Good Book's/frontispiece--his own name/inscribed on the page."
Taxonomy - In four parts, one each for four paintings by Juan Rodriguez Juarez. The paintings are apparently about different races of people coming together and their offspring. Titles like "De Espanol y De India Produce Mestiso" (itself used for the dust jacket) really spell the bi-racial nature of the subject matter.
"How not to see/in this gesture/the mind/of the colony"
Kitchen Maid - Again about a painting.
Knowledge - Yep. This one sounds like a medical drawing about lady parts.
The Americans - A series of 3 poems (Dissecting the White Negro, Blood, Help), all of which, again, seem to be examining works of art which depict bi-racial subjects.
Dissecting: "to strip from the flesh/the specious skin" and "so/deep the tincture/-see it!-/we still know white from not"
Blood: this one about a light-skinned girl sitting in a field full of black people working behind her: "Mezzo,/intermediate, how different she's rendered/from the dark kin working the fields behind her./If not for the ray of light appearing as if from beyond/the canvas, we might miss them--three figures/in the near distance, small as an after thought." Ouch.
Later, right around Mythology, the book shifts its focus from the external exploration of art to a more internal exploration of herself, her history, her identity as bi-racial (although Mano Prieta I think is about a photograph of the poet as a young girl and her mother's hand).
Torna Atras - A return to scrutinizing artwork, this time a poem about a descendent regressing.
sloatsj's review against another edition
5.0
I’ve been reading loads of poetry this month and this collection stands out as exceptional. Many ekphrastic poems alongside family poems, all dealing with race, interracial families and identity. Very well done, beautifully written and felt and conveyed.
wolfsonarchitect's review against another edition
4.0
Brilliant book of accessible poetry reflecting on her mixed race heritage and relationship with her father among other topics. A number of the poems are personal reflections on works of art. Unfortunately, except for the cover, none are reproduced in the book.