Twentieth-century literary criticism Book

Naomi Shihab Nye complied a book of poems from around the world and named it, This Same Sky. This work proves as a physical representation of the collective human consciousness, with nature being present through most of the rhythmic lines of each individual piece.
One could almost think each poem was inspired by a writer sitting quietly among the wilderness, capturing the happenings in front of them. Some works even find the writer immersing themselves into the nature flowing around them. Tommy Olofsson wrote "Old Mountains Want to Turn to Sand" in the first-person point of view to introduce the mountain as a main character, allowing the reader to identify with the aging mountains through personification (This Same Sky 13).
Other poems in this book do not address nature so directly; nature is used in simple metaphors. The opening lie of "The Gatherer" reads, "Blooming gardens are my words," after a line break continues, "My words are dusky gardens..." written by Ali al-Mak (This Same Sky). With the use of metaphors, the poet adds a song like rhythm to the work by balancing the of use the same syllables, the first line structured in one way and the second reversing with the same flow. In this poem, imagery benefits greatly from this strategy; words gather on the page like flowers flourish from a barren brown garden in winter to the lush colors of spring.
No matter where a person lives, or travels, they share contact with nature and its many wonders. Nature is one underlying connection between all living things on Earth, and for the sake of poetry, especially human life. This book touches upon the notion of animals being one with nature, while humans are more like visitors who often find themselves struck in awe or inspiration.
Nye hand selected a variety of poems and poets from multiple regions spanning all the world. Despite the differing rhythmic styles and choice of meter from individual poets, each piece flows into the next with a fluent grace. She used thoughtful consideration to align the works, so that their differences complimented one another. Some poems, such as "The Gatherer", span multiple lines, making use of the caesura formation. The use of line breaks in the middle of sentences/thoughts cause al-Mak's piece to have an abrupt, chopped tone of nostalgia (This Same Sky 15). Nye offsets different writing styles by the procession of the poems' order. Nye places "The Pen" by Muhammad al-Ghuzzi only two poems previous of this one. Here the line breaks are end-stops that form complete thoughts and only spans four lines.
One line reads, "The whole world is a sky-blue butterfly" ' fitting to Nye's motifs and probably the reason she picked this specific poem ' is one that anyone who has observed nature can relate to (This Same Sky 15). The imagery in this subtle poem is one that touches again on the collective consciousness, everyone who can see has witnessed a cloudless sky and the fluttering of a butterfly.
With this structure of worldly works, Nye sheds light on suffering ' maybe because this is a part of human nature. The poems grow more intense and complex the further one reads into This Same Sky. Titles even take on more meaning; such "A Brief Note to the Bag Lady, Ma Sister" written by Yusuf Eradam, that speaks on homelessness, so touching that the location of this suffering matters not then followed by a much simpler suffering, "A Man Never Cries" which uses an allusion to the false bravado that society has ingrained in men across the world (This Same Sky 57-9).
The collective voice in this book holds a tone of nostalgia, one of the strongest human factors. Reflective words, expressions, memories of the poems gathered here touch on the
beautiful nature of the world and the ugliness of human suffering. Nye did the literary world a favor by bring together poetry from Sweden, The Sudan, Tunisia, Turkey, and many other countries to show similarities across the spectrum. This book offers understanding readers can turn to when they would like to learn of travesties or know they are not alone in their plights of daily life