FIFTY DARTMOUTH POEMS.

Selectedand with an introduction. Richard Eberhart'26. Hanover: Dartmouth Publications, 1968. 52 pp. $2.00.

As one ought to expect, the quality of the verses in this collection varies over a remarkably wide range. An antagonistic critic might argue, for instance, that some of the poems fail because they have too little in them that is, in fact, poetry. Or, he might point out that some of the attempts at wit are embarrassingly immature. He might even be audacious enough to suggest that more practice in the formal aspects of the craft might have prevented the public appearance of lines which grate, or crack, or end too soon, or wander on too long. But these are, after all, beginning poets — by definition, poets who make mistakes - and I think it is far more appropriate here to talk about what makes their volume interesting than to carp about the ways in which it fails.

I have been interested, for instance, in the kinds of thematic materials which attract these writers. To be sure, one expects, in a book of this sort, to find poems which deal with rather topical problems, and rightly enough some of them do appear. But there aren't as many of them as I had expected, and they are not, by and large, among the best in the volume. In fact, some of the very best writing explores that area of human experience which has traditionally generated the greatest of lyrics: that infinitely mysterious and eternally fascinating matter of the relationship between man and woman. The love poems by Donald Hayden and Kirby Nickels are among the best. If some of these poets are lovers, others are wanderers. They take us from Bangkok to the banks of the Deerfield, and no one does better with this wanderlust motif than William Jaspersohn.

In terms of technique, poets like Gregory Curtis offer lines and images which are striking, indeed often convincingly grotesque. At the other extreme, Roger Fritz can work with a kind of gentle delicacy that is also most effective. For complexity, and a fascinating fusion of image patterns, there's James Price's "Metamorphosis." For simplicity, for effective control of tone, diction, and syntax, and for clear emotional depth, there's nothing quite like Judson Mead's "Thomas goes to the army," or Tony Choueke's quite different "Pick Up."

Just as the quality of the poems here varies remarkably, then, so too do the ways in which the good poems succeed. And this variety helps to make the book an interesting and occasionally exciting one.

Mr. Purdy is Assistant Professor of English,Hollins College.