A good example of classic poetry....

In an era of free, open, and other various forms of poetry, it is interesting, and a bit refreshing ,to find a current classical poet. Laverty echoes Longfellow or Shellley in this collection.
The poems while full of imagery are formal in style utilizing the standard aabb or abab rhyme schemes. Laverty in sticking with the safe poems of nature or observations of life, does not shy away from modern political issues as in his "On the UK Leaving the EU". His "The Village Plague" is chilling as one relates it to the current pandemic.
This is an excellent study in classic poetry and a book that should be read over and over.
I give this one five stars.

Christopher Laverty has written a sensational collection filled with nature and love. I had the most amazing experience from reading each line that rhymes as well as bring forth his vision to you in your dreams long after you finish reading them. I was in awe with the way his poems managed to speak with my soul. This is one of the collections that could stay with you until the very end. "Bird of Destiny", "Ever Brush Away The Sleep" and "A Night on The Moors" are my favourites.

"THE VALLEY OF MELANCHOLIA"

"The sky is charged; a veil of frozen dew
enshrouds the earth; the distant hilltops wear
the evening's pall of sullen, sable hue.
Still is the wind. With cries that fill the air,
the haunted voices of the valley share
their secrets awful and entralling,
of nameless sins and tales appaling,
at which the trees would shudder, the mountains tremble -
with madness laughing is the moon,
conspiring stars bestrew the noon;
something of eeriness pervades
the raw and rugged rocks, the groves and the glades.

Who wonders through this valley of desolate?
Who, straying late, did sorrow once accost,
and lead them here? Who came contemplate
life's mysteries, whose searching hearte had crossed
into the land of doubt - but the path lost?
Up to the heavens they gaze - the vast
and lightless voids.........."- Christopher Laverty Isn't this the a beautiful poem to behold. "The Valley of Melancholia" was a magical experience indeed. I'd rate this 4 stars and you all are missing out on this collection. I'd suggest it to those who have an affinity with nature and poetry or if you are that desolate soul wandering admist the sea of nothingness, seeking nature and its healing visions. Thank you to the author for this amazing Reader's copy for an honest review in return.

One night I met a traveller,
here from an oriental land;
he little spoke, this wanderer,
and held a Shamisen in his hand.
His fingers danced across its strings,
the music told of far-off things

This is the lovely opening stanza of “The Shamisen,” one of 52 works in Christopher Laverty’s fine collection The Ballad of Lorianna, Ever Brush Away the Sleep, To Winter, and Other Poems. This stanza is emblematic of the book, which is grounded firmly in the aesthetic of the English Romantic poets. Take these examples from the title poems:

Quaint Lorianna all adore;
with love’s divine disease
I sleepless pace, and thirst and bleed—
yet can’t the pain appease.
–from “The Ballad of Lorianna”

morning breaks—come see the dove
joyful circle skies above—
come climb mountains castle-crowned—
view the silvered scene around.
–from “Ever Brush Away the Sleep”

Winter—descending from your glacial throne,
you cross the tremulous waters, laying siege
with hands of ice to all that Summer’s grown,
binding the barren landscape to your liege.
–from “To Winter”

So, yes, rhyme and meter dominate the collection as far as form goes; and, regarding content, Laverty makes good use of romantic love and nature worship. However, he also visits darker regions of the sublime. Take these lines from “The Valley of Melancholia”:

Still is the wind. With cries that fill the air,
the haunted voices of the valley share
their secrets awful and enthralling,
of nameless sins and tales appalling

Or these, from “The Children of the Serpent”:

Where are your children, silent knights? To fields and hills they’re gone,
there in orgies of sensation revelling; down pathless ways
they have strayed. A kingdom rich with fruits forbidden they have won—
late beneath the moon with songs and dance carousing in a craze.

Not all the poems are rooted in a timeless land of enchantment. “To Solitude” mentions traffic and smog, and “Two Cities” mentions neon lights. The fine sonnet “On Seeing Manchester at Dawn” features traffic, pavements “tired and littered,” and piled bins. Another sonnet is entitled “On the UK Leaving the EU.”

In fact, the sonnets are my favorite poems in the book. I count 16 of them. “To Beauty,” the opening poem in the book, is distinctly Keatsian. “Last Night” features a vision of a beloved other “still young, turning your head / so gracefully, and laughing—robed in white.” “The Pillar of Tears” gives voice to the nameless slaves who helped build empires. “Drink Not Too Deep” echoes Shelley’s warning of ephemerality in “Ozymandias.” In “On Waking in a Valley in Aveyron,” the poet’s heart is “rekindled like a dormant ember.” Indeed, readers of this book who are aligned with Laverty’s aesthetic will have the same experience.

–-Tom Zimmerman, 6 December 2020

The Ballad of Lorianna by Christopher Laverty is a lovely collection of poetry written in a classical style, which, by the way, I happen to love. Poetry is such a personal thing because each poem is experienced differently by the reader. This collection is exceptional and it spoke to me in the most intimate way.

I read a lot of poetry. I host a daily poetry challenge on Litsy; therefore, I read several poems every day and I am exposed to a variety of styles and poets. Some I like and some I don’t. However, this collection was so good there was not a single poem I did not enjoy reading. I did have favorites and those I read 4 or more times. That’s how I know I love something… when I find myself being drawn back to it over and over again.

In particular, I appreciated that the poet did not make his verse over complex. The musings on life and the impression places and people leave on us shine through in these poems. There are a number of sonnets mixed in with longer and shorter verse. I liked the variety of length and subject. There is a hint of modern among the vintage which was a nice way to mix thing up a bit.

Here is a small taste to tempt you from Two Flowers:
“Two kinds of flowers are in life’s garden sown-
The first are words and deeds that spread a name;
For laurel wreaths and eulogies they’re grown
That blow such blossoms of the mind to fame.”

If you love poetry this is a collection you don’t want to miss. I read the entire collection twice and several poems multiple times and know I will return to often in the future.