WORDS FOR THE WIND

This book demonstrates the development of this poet- from the early, concrete Lyrics of 1941- hardly more than obscure poetic annotations- these poems increase in scope, depth, substance and skill as they approach the middle '50's. Many of them have appeared in well known magazines, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, to more avant-garde periodicals, and Roethke is now one of the more familiar of our younger poets. While uneven, at his best- as in the poems- ""I knew a woman lovely in her bones"", or the title oem, one recognizes his mastery as well as his sensibility. Roethke is a poet of considerable talent; when he has something more universal to say, he may well reach greatness.