Poems. By Walter Conrad Arensberg. (Houghton-Mifflin: $1.00 net.) The most artistic volume of poetry this year in its technique. Aloofness, controlled emotion, conscious art, are the characteristics of his poetry. Despite an occasional bizarrerie, despite echoes of Verlaine and Laforgue, Mr. Arensberg is a classicist. His technique is faultless. Each line is not only exquisite in itself, but it is perfectly coördinated with every other line. If these poems leave the reader cold, they offer an abundant intellectual compensation for the “thrills” of other poets. The special qualities of his verse are unique in American poetry, and will surely appeal to a discriminating circle, though his work is unlikely to become popular.
The Minor Poems of Joseph Beaumont. Edited by Eloise Robinson. (Houghton-Mifflin: $5.00 net.) An authoritative text of Joseph Beaumont’s minor poems edited from a manuscript in the possession of Professor George Herbert Palmer. The poems are preceded by a critical introduction and followed by a brief but careful textual apparatus. While Beaumont was a very minor poet, the fact remains that he was a significant member of the group of metaphysical poets of whom Vaughan was the greatest, and this volume must take its place in any collection of English poetry which claims to be even reasonably complete.
The Falconer of God, and Other Poems. By William Rose Benét. (Yale University Press: $1.25 net.) Mr. Benét’s second collection marks an advance in facility combined with a greater restraint and reticence. It includes many fine ballads, and several dramatic soliloquies only surpassed this year by those in Miss Burr’s new volume. Although there is much which is experimental in the book, it is successful experiment, and Mr. Benét’s range of expression is continually broadening.
* Auguries. By Laurence Binyon. (Lane: $1.00 net.) One of the most satisfying collections of verse of a noteworthy poet who is too little known and appreciated in this country. Its grave classical beauty will never assure it popularity, but at its best it is worthy to stand beside Mr. Bridges, and it contains no poem that is not excellent. Ferry Hinksey is a lyric which no future anthologist can overlook. Next to Mr. Arensberg’s poems, the most satisfying new volume artistically of the year. It demands silence and complete surrender.
Broad-Sheet Ballads. With An Introduction by Padraic Colum. (Norman, Remington: $.75 net.) A narrow, but good, selection of the best of the Broad-Sheet Ballads which occupy so definite a place in Irish poetry. These waifs and strays have been gathered previously in various collections, but never before in a volume calculated to appeal to the general public. An introduction telling the story of this form of art and the characteristics of its audiences and appeal to them is prefixed.
* Syrinx: Pastels of Hellas. By Mitchell S. Buck. (Claire-Marie: $1.25 net.) A volume of prose poems of reticent Pagan art, suggestive of the best work of Pierre Louys. Unique in American poetry, and really beautiful.
In the High Hills. By Maxwell Struthers Burt. (Houghton-Mifflin: $1.25 net.) The verse in this volume is of a kind that has eminent qualities without eminent distinction. The earnestness and sincerity of Mr. Burt’s poetic moods give to his poetry those sound qualities which at least compel attention, if they do not excite the emotions. The elements of poetry are not fused with imaginative heat in his work, and hence it lacks magic, but it reflects the gentlemanly feeling of a lover of poetry in verse which demands respect.
The Sun-Thief, and Other Poems. By Rhys Carpenter. (Oxford University Press: $1.75 net.) Competent academic verse on classical models, including a new version of the Prometheus legend.
The Poet and Nature: What He Saw and What He Heard. By Madison Cawein. (John P. Morton & Co.: Louisville, Kentucky. $1.50.) A volume of prose and verse designed to encourage a love of poetry in children. The first half of the volume is in the form of a juvenile story with previously published lyrics of Mr. Cawein interspersed as examples of poetic beauty: the second half of the volume consists of hitherto uncollected poems of nature by Mr. Cawein now gathered together under the title of The Morning Road. This part of the volume should give especial pleasure to Mr. Cawein’s readers.
Green Days and Blue Days. By Patrick R. Chalmers. (Norman, Remington: $1.00 net.) A pleasant volume of light verse by a contributor to Punch. The verses do not pretend to be more than agreeable diversions, and reflect the lighter moods of life happily and in delicate numbers.