Dealing with Grief and Loss Through Poetry: A Review of Lynn Clapp's New Book

Dealing with Grief and Loss Through Poetry: A Review of Lynn Clapp's New Book

Nobody, but nobody, understands grief quite like T.S. Eliot. Lynn Clapp must have known that when she decided to take on the difficult and elusive subject of death and bereavement in her new poetry-based book, Returning Home: A Poetic Journey of Grief and Loss.

In the book,  Clapp tries to understand that which is not understandable and has no answer--death. She uses the works of great poets and thinkers to explore this most incomprehensible of subjects. In doing so, she takes the reader through her own spiritual journey of dealing with the loss of her husband.

From the works of Pablo Neruda to Mozart, Clapp uses poetry to explore the deep and painful depths of grief. Most notable were her references to T.S. Eliot.  You can feel the writer’s connection to Eliot's passages of suffering, sorrow and healing as she deals with her own mourning process. 

Clapp's book shows the inner struggle of trying to find yourself again after losing someone you love. It explores the turmoil of experiencing the death of a loved one and trying to come to terms with the loss, emptiness and grief.

Did she find the one single magic answer? Of course not. There is no “one” answer. But what we learn from Lynn, with the help of some of the great masters of literature, is that even though the road of grief is a personal and lonely experience, it is possible to find peace once again. As T.S. Eliot explains,  “Grief passes…. unrelenting at first, but it does ease."

Returning Home: A Poetic Journey of Grief and Loss is available for purchase at Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Returning-Home-Poetic-Journey-Grief/dp/1461052467