CEREMONY And Other Poems

by Richard Wilbur ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 16, 1950

A second volume of poems by the young poet whose Beautiful Changes received such enthusiastic notices in 1947. These are indeed poems of ceremony -- stately landscapes, minutely sculptured images, but always an essential calm and intensity of feeling. There is also a great variety of mood and subject. Mr. Wilbur treats desire, time passing and death with gentle reflection and a deeper sense of loss in In the Elegy Season, Years End and Parden. However, in such poems as Juggler, Part of a Letter and The Puritans he shows a clear, sharp wit and invention. Such phrases as ""warm conceptual lakes"" and an echo from Frost like ""I've known the wind by water banks to shake the late leaves"", were better left unsaid. Extraordinary images like ""still he came in the carnal sun, clothed in a hymn of files""- ""backsliding wallop and tuck of the wave""- point and sharpen the verse. Quietly disciplined in form, and rich in tone, these are poems to be read with the keenest pleasure.

Pub Date: Nov. 16, 1950

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harcourt, Brace

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1950

Categories: NONFICTION