David Holbrook, Christopher Middleton, David Wevill

Penguin Modern Poets, Series I #4

by David Holbrook, Christopher Middleton, David Wevill

Genres: Poetry

111 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

David Holbrook was an English writer, poet and academic. From 1989 he was Emeritus Fellow of Downing College, Cambridge.

Reviews

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fourth book of the Penguin Modern Poets series, another three poets.

David Holbrook was not a familiar name to me before reading this collection. His poetry is about the everyday family concerns and activities: the most memorable poem for me is A Walk by the River with My Daughter, about a family excursion, so similar to many in my childhood. It's a simple device of describing what is seen, starting with a banal catalogue, of the sort that a small child comes out with: "A horse, one cow, two cows, and a transformer, the property of the Eastern Electricity Board", of the sort that are produced by young children. And the family is clearly important in several of the other poems. Much of these poems are not all that memorable, other than a slight shock in a series which is distinctly modern to find a (mostly) naively rhymed poem - but it fits with the domestic world that his poem inhabits, at least from the evidence in this collection.

Christopher Middleton writes in very short stanzas, which to me makes the poetry seem to be choppy, especially as the stanzas do not fit into any regular pattern that I could discern. The lack of rhythm is unsettling, and did not give me a favourable impression.

I found the final poet from this collection, David Wevill mostly to be the most impressive. The most enjoyable of his poems is about poetry, titled The Poets and quoting T. S. Eliot, showing that the intent is to talk about being a mid-twentieth poet in the shadow of earlier modernism, and that is preceded by the heartfelt Boy With Cancer. However, the poem The Rook I found distasteful, describing the killing of a rook by the pout - it's not clear whether this is metaphorical or if Wevill is describing actually carrying out the act .

[J Grimsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't comprehend these poets so I was going to give a review of 3 star but towards the end of the book I read Davis Wevill's quote " Knowing a man pays dearly who seldom thinks, by having his thinking done for him." and this was worth another star .. perhaps two

[Gareth Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of these three short collections, my preference was for David Holbrook’s lyrical, vigorous poems. An excellent way to gain an insight into three poets for the price of one - the Penguin Modern Poets paperbacks are well worth seeking out.