House of Belonging

A well worn copy is always near by.


A spectacularly simple and powerful collection of poems.   December 17, 1998
16 out of 16 found this review helpful

Whyte's "House of Belonging" represents everything that should interest today's jaded reading audience. This collection of poems is fresh, frank, and powerful, invoking a few elements of the classic American poetry tradition yet clearly establishing its own thoroughly modern style.

Whyte's images are crystal-clear and profound without being tritely symbolic. I especially liked the way he uses images from nature, almost in the style of Frost or Whitman, but still manages to make them fresh and relevant instead of merely derivative. In this "house of belonging," even simple everyday objects take on new meanings as the author examines the various elements of his life. And he doesn't waste words -- a lot of the impact of these poems comes from the simple, direct language with which he sketches his images.

The issues he deals with are issues we all understand in today's society -- particularly our need to feel a sense of belonging, of place. While there is nothing at all preachy about his work, his frank revelations of his own experience express some messages that are painfully relevant in today's world.

Whyte reveals his inner self in these lines, in a way that every reader can identify with -- almost as if they are the reader's own feelings. Take your time with these poems; they will speak to you a little differently, and a little more deeply, each time you read them.


Whyte's words are gifts. Through them, he belongs to us.   December 11, 1998
7 out of 9 found this review helpful

Read each poem as if you were unwrapping a gift - because you are.

I highly recommend the audiotape as well. There is nothing, there is nothing, there is nothing like hearing David Whyte read his own poems. There is nothing like hearing David Whyte read his own poems! Need I say more? Need I say more?

Thank you, David Whyte.


Work that lacks the murky qualities of much poetry.   August 8, 1998
12 out of 12 found this review helpful

We owe a debt of gratitude to David Whyte for work which lacks the obscure, murky, digressive qualities often associated with poetry and which are responsible for turning large segments of the reading public away from quality literature.

He writes with exquisite simplicity about life's monumental concerns: love, creativity, aloneness, beauty. These are the very things which, by virtue of their universality, should be easily perceptible, but which we have made endlessly complicated.

There is a pervasive, Zen-like aspect to Mr. Whyte's work. By following him back to the wild Yorkshire moors of his youth and forward to the vast potential of the land he adopted in adulthood, we are reminded to take note of each moment, to pay heed to even the most mundane articles of daily existence --- bees, trees, daisies, dishes, kettles --- because they are all facets of the ever-changing whole that is each life.

Whether dealing with the fullness of nature's many moods or the lo! ng search for a special connection with another human being, his poems each hold at their core a lustrous pearl of truth.

He speaks to a generation now learning to accept the difficult, i.e., that not all dreams are possible but that new hopes can rise to take their place, that there is a continuance of life after what one believed to be an 'only' love, and that solitude can be a genesis site for constructive activity, realization and joy.