Review: The Wretch on the Gallows Tree
The Wretch On The Gallows Tree is a collection of rhymes and carols by Daniel Mitsui. I understand it to be his first collection of poetry to be published and it’s very high quality. The book has about 40 poems in it, most cover approximately two pages, and there are illustrations.
Mitsui is an artist primarily, his work mostly consists of illumination style, and he has been doing this for afew decades. For this book he has done all the illustrations, typeface, and designing himself, and it does look very professional.
As the book’s title hints at, this book is very Christian. The poems range from hymns to be read on Christmas morning to carols about the death and resurrection of Jesus.
The poems rhyme very well - no modern deconstruction of poetry going on here - making it a pleasure to read. And with plenty of the hymns and carols being written for events such as Christmas, Easter, and Maundy Thursday, one could easily incorporate these into their celebrations of those days.
The back of the book has a handy glossary for more unusual terms used throughout the poems. This includes an interpretation of any latin phrases used. The unusual words are not plentiful, nor do they disrupt the poetry.
Review by Shieldmaiden
Daniel Mitsui
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