THE WAKING

The rising young poet here adds to his stature in a volume of verse which includes some of the material published in Praise To the End (1951) as well as earlier and later poems. If there is obscurity in Roethke's poetry, this is offset by a freequent depth, urgency, breathlessness, even a kind of ecstasy which marks a real poetic gift. He has already recorded the confused and intense sensations of childhood, but here he has achieved expression of more mature feelings. One of the most interesting poets on the American scene, his book should find an appreciative audience.