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librarypatron's review
4.0
A select few of these poems will be reread many times for the rest of my life. The majority, however, didn't land no matter how long I sat with them.
brice_mo's review
2.0
Imagistically strong but stylistically shaky, Every Riven Thing has very high highs and very low lows.
I love Christian Wiman’s other work, particularly My Bright Abyss and Survival is a Style, but there are so many odd, self-indulgent poetic quirks throughout this collection, such as an over-reliance on simplistic end rhymes. Likewise, there are sections so obtuse that they feel like parody. At the same time, there are lines in here that are simply breathtaking, particularly for religious or existentially motivated readers. The divide between the two impulses is so stark that this collection feels more like two competing chapbooks, and I was only interested in one of them.
I love Christian Wiman’s other work, particularly My Bright Abyss and Survival is a Style, but there are so many odd, self-indulgent poetic quirks throughout this collection, such as an over-reliance on simplistic end rhymes. Likewise, there are sections so obtuse that they feel like parody. At the same time, there are lines in here that are simply breathtaking, particularly for religious or existentially motivated readers. The divide between the two impulses is so stark that this collection feels more like two competing chapbooks, and I was only interested in one of them.
annalisenak97's review
4.0
I read the majority of these out loud to myself, and every word sounded good coming out of my mouth. 10/10 would recommend.
sloatsj's review
5.0
I got [b:Every Riven Thing: Poems|7940354|Every Riven Thing Poems|Christian Wiman|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1312068621s/7940354.jpg|11365372] along with three other slim poetry volumes from Farrar, Strauss from a newspaper colleague of mine who had no intention of reviewing them. I read two others first, and didn’t like them much at all, so I put this aside and it’s only an accident I ever picked it up again, especially with such a foreboding cover. But it is great poetry. I loved it. Beautiful words, beautiful syntax, and also solemn and serious, even though the rhyme and rhythm make it playful at times. He chosen theme is often death but there’s plenty of other stuff – characters, phenomenon, nature, love.
It seems Wiman wrote these poems in response to being diagnosed with some illness. I don't actually know what illness nor do I care, but just for background that does seem important to understanding where the poems come from.
He often employs end and internal rhyme, which I mostly liked. Here the first lines of “From a Window.” It’s not one of my favorites, but still, here goes.
Incurable and unbelieving
in any truth but the truth of grieving,
I saw a tree inside a tree
rise kaleidoscopically
as if the leaves had livelier ghosts.
I pressed my face as close …
Many of the poems have to do with God and belief and I don’t believe in God but that didn’t keep me from enjoying them and wishing that were a real consolation, even though in “Hammer is the Prayer,” Wiman claims that God is no consolation. Along with not believing in God, I don’t believe that God is no consolation, but hey! enough about me!
In additon to enjoying these poems I felt I could learn from them as a poet, how the lines broke, the rhymes, the small liberties.
My favorite poems include “Dipped Into Frenzy” and “Like a Dog Existence,” which are part of a sequence called “Not Altogether Gone,” which you can read here: http://chronicle.com/blogs/arts/mondays-poem-not-altogether-gone-by-christian-wiman/29115
I also liked “Dust Devil” and “To Grasp at the Mercury Minnows Are.” I couldn’t find those, though, so here are -
“Five Houses Down” from the New Yorker:
http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/poetry/2009/06/29/090629po_poem_wiman
and “It Takes Particular Clicks” from Slate:
http://www.slate.com/id/2210851/
It seems Wiman wrote these poems in response to being diagnosed with some illness. I don't actually know what illness nor do I care, but just for background that does seem important to understanding where the poems come from.
He often employs end and internal rhyme, which I mostly liked. Here the first lines of “From a Window.” It’s not one of my favorites, but still, here goes.
Incurable and unbelieving
in any truth but the truth of grieving,
I saw a tree inside a tree
rise kaleidoscopically
as if the leaves had livelier ghosts.
I pressed my face as close …
Many of the poems have to do with God and belief and I don’t believe in God but that didn’t keep me from enjoying them and wishing that were a real consolation, even though in “Hammer is the Prayer,” Wiman claims that God is no consolation. Along with not believing in God, I don’t believe that God is no consolation, but hey! enough about me!
In additon to enjoying these poems I felt I could learn from them as a poet, how the lines broke, the rhymes, the small liberties.
My favorite poems include “Dipped Into Frenzy” and “Like a Dog Existence,” which are part of a sequence called “Not Altogether Gone,” which you can read here: http://chronicle.com/blogs/arts/mondays-poem-not-altogether-gone-by-christian-wiman/29115
I also liked “Dust Devil” and “To Grasp at the Mercury Minnows Are.” I couldn’t find those, though, so here are -
“Five Houses Down” from the New Yorker:
http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/poetry/2009/06/29/090629po_poem_wiman
and “It Takes Particular Clicks” from Slate:
http://www.slate.com/id/2210851/
elianachow's review against another edition
4.0
I always learn a great deal about the possibilities and reaches of language construction from Wiman, for which I am grateful.
wallsc's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
(going to purchase a copy immediately)