IN THE TERRIFIED RADIANCE

This is a selected retrospective of Burnshaw's poetry going back to Iron Land (1936) with a generous section of new work. Viewed in his own terms (the model of poetry drawn up in The Seamless Web, 1970) they offer an ""art-experience"" in which ""language-thinking"" is used largely to neutralize ""creature-knowledge."" Their procedure, in a manner of speaking, is to take the kinks out of the viscera and elevate them to a syntax where soberly uniform diction is in final control. Sometimes the feeling is all the more moving for its tight and dignified containment; but conversely, too, the hierophantic voice can be wearisome, protesting the immediacy of its occasions and the urgency of its message without registering the effects of either. Most of the energy is concentrated in the stern texture. The cores, once cracked into, are often surprisingly soft. Imposing is perhaps the best word.