MORNING WORSHIP and Other Poems

One of our most popular and well-loved contemporary poets, Mark Van Doren, Pulitzer Prize winner, has in this last volume of verses surely scored a bulls-eye again. Here we have the familiar country man, friend, lover, light-spoken philosopher, but with something added -- a richness and ripeness that is most satisfying. Whether it is the advance of years, the mastering of technique, or the greater depth of insight, this seems to us to be the best of a half dozen or more volumes of poetry from his pen. Formerly there has been a hint of a fear of insipidity, of wordiness, of slackness of thought. But now he shows the ""soul of wit"" in many poems by their very brevity; and the wisdom of the soul by their depth of feeling. The title poem, Morning Worship, is one of the latter. But perhaps the most outstanding, the most unusual, is his long Pythagorean poem, The Undersong. This explains much about Mr. Van Doren, and is without doubt an original contribution to the content of American poetry.