Evening star., 1947-08-03
HEN the United Ma
tions Confere enc .
opened In 1945, THE
New YORKER" com.

tnlngS centuries ago III pe11eCs
clarity"
The poetry Of the year 1916 has
been notable for the concentrated
attention 1t has paid to the prob
lens of the present earth. The
poets who have published
volumes during this year seldom
evince any desire or even un-
conscious straining to escape
from their own nations into
countries Of self-satisfying irnagi-
nation. They look upon contem-
porary horrors pityingly but un-
f1inchingly. The experienced poets
are In q measure reconciled yet
grid themselves for an unknown
future. The younger poets are
angrier and more gloomy but
equally courageous In their deter
mination to see life and see it
whole.
Raymond Holden, whose "Se-
lected Poems" mark him once
again es q mature and medita-
tive poet, has voiced the pre-
vailing thought in his double
summons: unable to die, come.
Man, and study life. :. Unable
to live, come Man, and study
DEATH" Holden sees the world
as "This flattened world of hope,
This dish Of agony" Never forget
the day, he says:
When, from the forest, man,
the trild one, came
With knowledge pointed IN his
mind like flame,
Able at last to choose to sGUe
or sldy.
These quotations are taken
from a section Of previously un-
published poems entitled "War
Behind the Brow" In the selec-
tions from Holden's earlier pub
Hshed work, such as "The Pup
pet Flesh" "Leda and the Swan"
and Chance Has q Whip" there
is perhaps greater felicity Of ex-
preston but they cannot match
his most recent poems In INTEL
lectual content.
x*%
A challenge similar to Holden's
Is uttered by Ruth Pitter. the
English poet, and she has risen
above her usual withdrawn and
somewhat sentimental character
in the title poem Of her book.
1.-THE Bridge. Her attunement
to the tragedies of war is again
reflected in 1.-THE Sparrow's
Skull" and in Passion and
Peace" with its opening line,
Poetry, like all passion, seeks
for peace"-these two being
among the finest poems in her
book.
Another English poet, Robert
Graves, has, perhaps because of
his large historical perspective,
expressed his current reflections
with a calm obHqueness in his
Poems: 1938-1945. In ITO Lucia
At Birth" he writes:
-. Outrageous company to be
born into,
Lunatics OF a shining age
long dead
Hark ho,D they roar; but
1erer turn your head.
Nothing ,0iH change them, let
them not change you.
Another poet who Is unwilling
to surrender all Joy in the face
Of the threats of history, Is the
American, Genevieve Taggard.
Her new book, "Slow Music" is
rewarding both in its expressions
Of delight in earth's landscapes
and in its examinations of earth's
more political aspects. In such
a poem as "Demeter" with its
beautiful lines, STUDY the art
Of seeds, The nativity of caves"
in "Gilfeather Again." and in
Hymn to Yellow" there is re-
freshment for the Imagination.
A versatile poet, writing a more
formal verse but holding her
own by the practised sureness of
her technique Is Leonora Spayer.
Her new collection, "Slow Wall
Together With Nor Without
Music" including some new
poems and some previously pub
lished, reveals her encirc.ed by
many literary and religious tradi-
tions.
An even closer adherence to
tradition is to be found in the