Of Snow, of Soul offers a substantial selection from each of Talvet's three most recent poetry books, Kas sul viinamarju ka on? (Do You Also Have Grapes?, 2001), Unest, lumest (Of Dreams, of Snow, 2005) and Silmad peksavad une seinu (Eyes Beat the Walls of Sleep, 2008).
Talvet seems to seek a balance between 'the palm of the hand and immensity.' In a rapid rhythm, the intimate and the intellectual, literary erudition and fragile visual fragments alternate. In Talvet's poetry, the world wanderings of an erudite, a philosopher, and a cosmopolite become closely intertwined with the warmly intimate and humane: the little hand of his daughter, the echo of the voices of his father and his mother, his native home or a tree branch from his childhood. Such a clash and, at the same time, a harmony of contrasting dimensions create Talvet's impressively personal poetic style.
Marin Laak, World Literature Today