‘Icelight’ Review: Bridging the Gap Between Humanity, Spirituality, and Collective Memory

Ranjit Hoskote’s latest book of poetry, “Icelight,” reflects on the cyclical yet unpredictable nature of life. Throughout the collection, nameless characters navigate a new world during the Neolithic period, examining anxieties of remembrance and regret. Hoskote establishes a tension between the presentness of history and the characters’ awarenesses of time’s passage. The book’s form and atemporal nature interrogate the traditional notion of beginnings and endings. The poems present the points at which we begin and end as connected like the shore of a sea, bridging the gap between time, humanity, and spirituality. Hoskote excels at building an interconnected world that is both richly detailed and universal in its themes and concerns, encouraging a truly introspective reading experience.

Hoskote offers readers a nuanced exploration of memory, legacy, and the human desire to be remembered, simplifying complex themes and inviting readers to reflect on their own relationships to these concepts. The characters explore the ways in which our memories shape our understanding of the world and our place within it. His commitment to exploring legacy is particularly striking in the poem “Apostle.” In this poem, the speaker addresses the “apostle of silence” and asks what legacy he will leave behind, highlighting the human fascination with having a lasting impact on the world.

Hoskote’s poetic prowess shines through in his ability to delve into the intricate concepts of memory, skillfully exploring its layered facets, such as regret. The depth of his exploration is exemplified in the poem “Glover,” where Hoskote uses the metaphor of gloves as “silhouettes of regret” to emphasize the lasting impact that regret can have on our memories. Hoskote’s portrayal of common anxieties and their progression throughout the collection imbues his characters with a sense of relatability and universality, bridging temporal gaps.

“Icelight” also offers a rich exploration of spirituality and its role in human life. One of the most striking examples of this theme can be seen in the poem “Crow Hymn.” In this poem, the speaker performs a ritual in which they call out to an “unknown god.” While the language used in the poem is religious in nature, the speaker does not seem to belong to any particular religious tradition. Rather, the poem intimates that spirituality is a universal human experience that transcends specific religious practices.

Throughout “Icelight,” Hoskote uses the poems’ physical forms to help tell their stories. He plays with spacing, line length, and line count to create a visual narrative that enhances the meaning of the words. In “Torso,” for example, Hoskote uses line indentation to create a sense of fragmentation and dislocation. The poem describes a body that has been abused, and the line indentation mimics the physical damage levied against the body. The broken lines and jagged edges of the poem create a sense of disorientation and unease, mirroring the experience of the body described in the poem. This mirroring of text and experience parallels the larger theme of interconnectedness woven throughout the book.

Hoskote further plays with reader expectations by subverting the traditional use of words and sound. This is notable in the back-to-back poems “Fresco” and “Breath.” “Fresco” is composed of four stanzas alternating between four lines and one line in length. “Breath” follows the same form but abandons the final one-line stanza. This structure creates a sense of uncertainty and emphasis on the premature final line, “I have waited all my life to speak.” The omission of that final line implies that the speaker is still waiting to speak, despite having waited their entire life. The absence of a line creates a sense of unresolved tension, suggesting that the speaker's desire to express themselves will never be fully satisfied. The use of absence in “Breath” reinforces the book's theme of interconnectedness and the idea that life is a continuous and ongoing process. Hoskote’s experimentation with form and structure in these poems is a testament to his dexterity as a poet and his commitment to exploring complex themes in a thought-provoking and engaging way. By subverting traditional techniques and embracing the power of absence, he creates a sense of depth and nuance that is meant to resonate with readers on multiple levels.

The final poem “Return” serves as a fitting conclusion to the book, as it confronts the mortality of the body and the immortality of the spirit, suggesting that there is something beyond physical death to which we return. The title itself restates the idea that beginnings and endings are connected and that the end of one journey marks the beginning of another, providing a sense of closure to the reader, while also leaving them with much to ponder about the cyclical nature of life and death — two states of being forever interconnected.

“Icelight” is a remarkable collection of poetry that offers readers a thought-provoking exploration of universal themes and concerns such as the interconnectedness of people through distances of time and memory. Ultimately, Hoskote’s skillful use of language, structure, and imagery creates a deeply moving reading experience.