Our Fortnightly Book Review

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 45, 22 May 1931, Unnumbered Page

Our Fortnightly Book Review

Darley Steps and Other Verses .

By

C. R.

Allen

BooKs of verse written by dwellers in this.Dominion are somewhat rare events in our literary history, and it. was with keen and critical interest that I opened ‘the slim volume of verse that is Mr. ©. R. Allen’s latest contribution. to bellés-lettres, Mr, Allen is an accomplished litterateur, being ‘in turn novelist, playwright, musician, an&. poet; and in reading his latest work I am struck anew by the force of his imagery, his acumen, spiritual. vision, and response to the radiance and beauty of the good green earth = | Imaginative fantasy is allowed full scope in "Darley Steps," a narrative poem which enthrals by its atmosphere of beauty and terror, and ends on a note of peaceful loveliness. Darley River brimmed between Golden banks this afternoon. Drowsy ring-doves seemed to croon "All that was has. never been. There is but this golden day." I counsel aspiring young writers to study. this poem for its sustained effect, wealth of detail, sure touch, and fitting versification. The elegiac "In Hoe Signo," suggested by Memorial Window in chapel of Collegiate’ School at Wanganui, pays tribute to.heroes:who have passed on, and sets in juxtaposition our own "red rata, clematis and fern" with beloved Old Land. Far, far away in some soft English glen Through: the long dusk is heard the nightingale. ; Here in this land of loose-limbed meit, Clamorous creek and pastured hill and . dale. Bell-birds.are tolling by-a swift streamside... "A Singer of Songs" is effective in terseness, and "Death of Little Pan" races along in an ecstasy of youth and joy. oe For the dawn had come bright as a scimitar hurled . From the fortress of night at the rim of ithe world..... until. destiny crashes and all delight is ended. For-its poetic apprehension of the

passing show of life and death, spiritual awareness, and rhythmic and picturesque' verse form, "The Singing Heart" will be chosen by many as the best poem in the book. Briefly, it is the story of "Petér, the giant of Lushdale," Mary his wife, his sons, "who were strong and wild," and David of the fragile body and singing soul. If space permitted, one would fain quote largely from this beautiful allegory that is instinct with quick response to nature’s moods and the varying life of humanity. Rustled the leaves of the poplar, Their nether sides showed grey. Then an amber moon looked over the hill, And birds and branches were deathly. still... And again: Though all the children of God’s earth At sickle-time must fall, © And the stout trees may be auptorn, The little flower that ts: born Like a frail child amid the corn Is stronger than them all. Mr, Allen is a poet of nature. Obviously at one with the joys of the countryside, he intertwines the beauty of the world with his mystical imagina--tion, and expresses it in magical cadences for him who has ears to hear. The lovely poem "Persephone" tells, in exquisite versification. of the first coming of Spring. and "Sentinel" conducts us to a wood of enchantment. The futility of regrets for lost youth is given expression in the gravely beautiful "The Unwritten Page": These may not be, e The old delight, the wonder of the morning, And leaves that turned upon the golden age. And though to me . Their blots and errors are a warning, Here’s a clean quill for the unwritten page. An interesting and notable collection. which by virtue of poetic equipment, an other-world quality somewhat difficult to define, and mystical interpretation of life’s complexities, will enhance the author’s already established literary reputation,

ENTERTAINING to a degree, and a most vivacious chronicle, is "-- And: the Greeks;" by Charles Graves, brotfaer to Mr. Robert’ Graves,’ who remembered as the author of "Gootl-bye to All That." The author is possessed of considerable literary skill, as was -to be expected, coming fas I he does of literary stock, and takes readers at a gay pace on a luxury jaunt’ through Burope. The pilgrimage passes through Deauville, Moritz, 4Murren and. Monte Carlo; we rub shoulders, with ‘the smartest of smart sets, the most conservative of public school boys; -we hear choice. stories of well-known figitres in the great world. We learn how the gayest of the gay and the richest of the rich dress and talk and act when away. from, their native heath. Celebrities, foreigners, gamblers and millionaires are presented in the literary hotchpot and. rampant high spirits and gaiety are the order of the'day. As an -example of Mr. Graves’s style may be quote ae ' , "What is the Lido, anyway? It is an island-eight miles long, with two huge hotels, two medium-sized hidtels, an immiature nine-holes’ golf course, dozens of water bicycles, a _ gondola or two, a floating population of Italian princes, Spanish dukes, Americans, Old Btonians,, and cocktail shakers. Everyone Wears pyjamas all day. It is an orgy of. slumber-syits, All day vou bask. All night you dance. Foreign royalties: aquaplane in the _ dnoonlight. Plump Dutchmen run * up and down the beach taking * exercise." ""* Gharminely light, frivolous to a de,.gzee, the book nevertheless contains *Srilliant thumb-nail studies of "certain people of importance" whom Mr. Graves encountered in his gambols in » Wuroke. He is equally diverting when he distourses of Cairo or-the proprietors of London restaurants. A pity to miss this clever and light-hearted travel-tale. And the illustrations are _=brilliantly executed. ONT, dreamer, novelist, Mr. Vernon Knowles is to be reckoned with in j7the literary. field. The author of "The * Ripening Years" will publish shortly a new novel entitled "Pitiful Dust," striking and sincere’ narrative of fri ‘. trated love. It is prophesied that this book will create a furore of applause from those capable -of appreciating clever characterisation, arresting dialogue and plot of admirable verisimilitale. HE numerous "people who have yearned to run a bookshop will find much to charm in a recent’ novel, "Albert Grope." in’ which: the author; ¥F. O. Mann, creates a delightful picture of one kept -by Victorinn Mr. Blowberry. ...A book to read and a pook to buy.

"WV ORLD Without End," by Helen Thomas, is unique in fine sincerity and simplicity of narration. Under the thin disguise of changed names, the book tells the story of the married love of the poet Edward Thomas and his wife; their young children, the homes they lived in, the hardness of the struggle with material things, . The author sets before us her poet-lover, his beauty and charm, splendid ine. tellect, delightful comradeship, and oecasional moods of dark distrust and despondency; in the process unconsciously revealing her own great qualities of courage, devotion and gaiety of heart. In this somewhat disconcertingly frank story, .various characters ure limned, one surmises from life; notably of a great London editor, who proved a very present help in times of stress almost amounting to poverty. There are beautiful descriptions of days and nights in out-of-door England, nnd long tramps by husband and wite who were at one in their love of all things beautiful. Of the nightingale Mrs. Thomas writes: "Then out of ihe silence, out of the scent-laden, moonlit, dappled copse, comes a long, clear, vibrating note of purest tone. Low and tender at first, then the sweetness becomes strength, the tenderness passion, until in that wild note it is as if God speaks and we understand. All pain, all ecstasy, all despair, all love, are expressed." This is a beautiful story of a very perfect love, which the Great War ended. But somehow one feels as though one had no right to read it. ISS ELIOT BLISS, still in her twenties, after taking a diploma in journalism, acting as sub-editor of a year book and as_ secretary-chauffeuse to a parliamentary candidate, has turned her attention to novel writing, having just published "Saraband," while a yolume of her poems is to appear later in the year. Miss Lesley Smith, in "Mour Years Out of Life," gives an obviously sincere and very affecting ccount of her experiences as a V.A.D. in France in 1915, her book being yet another tribute to gallantry and heroic endurance of men and women (luring the terrible years when HEngland was at war. Miss Vera Wheatley, in "Single-handed," has dealt well and wisely with the career of a faithful and uncomplaining daily drudge, who, in service at the age of 14, worked for eleven hours a day for a weekly wage of half-a-crown. Miss Wheatley’s story is quite unbiased, .and is permeated with such a revealing comprehension of the Maggies of the world, and what they thought and felt and endured, that one sighs with thankfulness to remember that such social conditions are now, almost entirely of the past,