THREE LANDSCAPES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 717, 10 April 1953, Page 5

THREE LANDSCAPES

Sir.-What does lack of "outraged comment" mean? Surely not acquiescence, as "Nature Lover" suggestsmore, perhaps, disinterest or an implacable brooding. The critics are silent -and by "critic". I mean one who helps towards the understanding of a work of art, not one who tries to destroy. But can silence help? I think not, I wonder how many readers did more than just turn over to the next page or look out of the window to see a better landscape. I pinned the poems on the wall because there were one or two "flashes" -.which in themselves held a promise of something better. However, one good line never constitutes, and never will constitute, a good poem, so my overall opinion remained unaltered. The "awkward" phrasing ‘and choice of words still tended to retard rather than hreathe in sympathy with the subject. But I feel it is wrong to deny a poem to such an extent as to suggest hurriedly turning over to the next page. General dismissal is no help to anyone, let alone the poets, who get more than their share of "popular criticism." So even if I reveal an opening for pens who like nothing more than swimming in a sea of controversy, I intend to say what I liked rather than what I disliked. I liked the opening to Mr. Glover’s poem (the first five lines) and I liked the line "The sea is slow and untaught." The rest of the piece to my mind "struggled," leaving an overall effect of flatness, a_ thing I do not think Mr, Glover wanted, although the poem concerned the cycle of erosion.. Mr. Day with hisTotara ghosts whisper and lean Over the bariked-up riches rushing From long years in hidden caves -made me feel that he had much more than the whole poem suggested, and could do better in descriptive verse than his "Franklin County" would lead anyone to believe. In the case of Mr. Mitcalfe I admit some bias. I know the wild country and fiercely independent and beautiful river valleys, so that I can fill in in my own mind what is missing from "The days were measured by a beech tree burning." I feel that this same subject by the same author could be handled better and with more effect in prose. Perhaps my cryptic notes are meaningless, but that does not matter. This

country is young, youth and: vitality are inseparable; there is room-lots of itfor culture, and believe it or not there is a thirst for that culture. Not many of us can satisfy, but most of us can try: , 2 "TO The Yishartes my fespects, if not critical approval, for venturing to print ‘the poems, and to the ‘poets my gratitude for doing more than "feeling" the necessity |for creative art.

J. W.

BEATTY

(Lake Waitaki)