HUNTSMAN, WHAT QUARRY?

This is simply a supplementary note to the announcement on April 1st (page 140). The book is now at hand, and will appeal to many who like her best in her lyrical vein. There are sonnets, lyrics, some verse keyed to international problems (these we felt were the best in the volume). There is, somehow, a lack of the spontaneity, the eternal spark of genius of her early work. She has been influenced, perhaps, by the modern trend towards using unpoetic symbolism and vocabulary, but her innate sense of poetry overrides these occasional gestures towards realism. It will be interesting to note the reviews and the public response, after the initial sale. Millay is the one sure best seller among poets, but for me she has lost her magic.