Reviews for English poetry, 1918-60

The average rating for English poetry, 1918-60 based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-07-09 00:00:00 Deidre Doherty if only this were all that my syllabi entailedd. hnnnngh, more poetry. need. more. poetry.

Review # 2 was written on 2020-08-16 00:00:00 Ariel Bernardo This is a “new revised edition” reprinted in 1963 so you can get an idea of how long I have had it. I had never heard of most of these poets, but knew the famous ones, of course – W.B. Yeats, Walter de la Mare, James Joyce, D.H. Lawrence, Aldous Huxley, W.H. Auden, Dylan Thomas, Lawrence Durrell (whom I had not realized was a poet but knew from his Alexandria Quartet), Kingsley Amis of Lucky Jim fame, Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath. Regarding T.S. Eliot, extracts from The Waste Land and Ash Wednesday are included: From Ash Wednesday: “ … In this brief transit where the dreams cross The dreamcrossed twilight between birth and dying … This is the time of tension between dying and birth The place of solitude where three dreams cross Between blue rocks But when the voices shaken from the yew-tree drift away Let the other yew be shaken and reply.” (I can’t say I understand this.) And from the chorus of The Family Reunion: “In an old house there is always listening, and more is heard than is spoken. And what is spoken remains in the room, waiting for the future to hear it. And whatever happens began in the past, and presses hard on the future. The agony in the curtained bedroom whether of birth or of dying, Gathers in to itself all the voices of the past, and projects them into the future. … There is nothing at all to be done about it, There is nothing to do about anything, And now it is nearly time for the news We must listen to the weather report And the international catastrophes.” I looked in vain for the poems by Walter de la Mare I had learnt by heart at school. I think one of them was “The listeners”: “’Is there anybody there?’ said the Traveller, Knocking on the moonlit door.” Also, “Someone came knocking at my wee, small door”. (He is interested by knocking at doors.) I also looked to no avail for Sea Fever by John Masefield: “I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and a white sail’s shaking, And a grey mist on the sea’s face and a grey dawn breaking.” And Home-Thoughts, From Abroad by Robert Browning. “Oh, to be in England. Now that April’s there, And whoever wakes in England Sees, some morning, unaware, That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf, While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough In England – now!” My Dad, who was also my Headmaster and teacher, loved poetry and got us to learn all these poems and more by heart. But, sadly, none were to be found in this anthology. (I was also fascinated by Browning’s “My last Duchess”, where I understood that the Duke had murdered her and put her head in a flower-pot, but I can’t see anything about the last bit in the poem!) To return to the present anthology, it contains two poems by Arthur Waley, whom I did not know. These are translations of Chinese poetry. The chrysanthemums in the Eastern Garden (Po Chü-i A.D. 812) “The days of my youth left me long ago<, And now in their turn dwindle my years of prime. With what thoughts of sadness and loneliness I walk again in this cold, deserted place! … I remember, when I was young, How quickly my mood changed from sad to gay … But now that age comes A moment of joy is harder to get. And always I fear that when I am quite old The strongest liquor will leave me comfortless.” A Mad Poem addressed to my Nephews and nieces (Po Chü-I A.D. 835. The World cheats those who cannot read, I, happily, have mastered script and pen, The World cheats those who hold no office; I am blessed with high official rank. Often the old have much sickness and pain, With me, luckily, there is not much wrong. People when they are old are often burdened with ties; But I have finished with marriage and giving in marriage.” I like these poems and will see if I can find Waley’s “Chinese Poems”. The present book has probably been revised again so it now includes other more recent poets.