R. A. K. MASON AND DOUGLAS STEWART

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23508, 10 December 1941, Page 10

R. A. K. MASON AND DOUGLAS STEWART

N.Z. POETRY | l

i w ■ .■<% '!! i This Dark Will Lighten. • <&. .-M Poems (1923-1941). By Mason. The Canton Pteie.yfi'jii '(4s 6d.) Sonnets to the Unknown Soldier u£l Douglas Stewart. Angns and ertson Ltd. 29 pp. (3s 6d.) ***; (Reviewed by A. C;) e It is sometimes fitting analysis, should yield brief review to a confession/trfaßflSl:. the reviewer. This clears th&Jjj is better than cloaking a thinly-pretended obj j ! shall here declare a personal tion that the rarest poetic im Du u' among New Zealand writers is*eveau ed in-this first comprehensive ■seketi^T from the poems of R. A. K. Auckland. Much of the early printed here has been known 'on)y £ a comparative few in this coimw’ though some of the poems ‘h®* peared abroad, including the-AP "The Spark’s Farewell to its •ClajPanli “Miracle of Life,” in Harold Moan.?' "Twentieth Century Poetry," and%J; published by the “New ly” in “The Modem Muse." recent Gollancz “Poems of In New Zealand these earlyuJStH have been available only in naftSSSi; circulated collections—"The Beggar" “In the Manner of Men," aiid Broadsheet.” An over-ambitious' Airland publishing venture resulted in«J! magnificently printed VNp New Thing,” of which only a lew copto , were bound and sold. The best from all these sources has now been issued' 1 by the Caxton Press in a handy edii tion: a most signal service to New 2ea;ii land poetry. ' ■ ~ i;i Here are sonnets which would rank' high in any company., Here is Skeen wit, salted by suffering. Here are » : i command of form and phrasing,. rhythmic control and balance, such ag-i no other New Zealand poet has apii proached. Mason is notx“mddem" w!i a restricted he. might'; even bt!* said to have anticipated the 4 current>: return to tradition, as p source strength rather than, of mere models,.; He does . not for the mostffflart draw'ii subjects from the New Zealand, «•'; even the contemporary wodd, sceoAi But his reference to either is oftaijl more significant, by its : obliquity. fit; gives his country—gives, be-i: fore its time —a rare expression ot* what Dr..E. W.-Tillyitf^MW^tt#-pep! mal joy-melancholy,” If; is right in attributmg;to';fl)hi{jme: coni! pulsive power of the greatekt ’ lyripH poetry/one need go little sfuiidher to| explain the comparative obscMty m which Mason’s. work ■< haajaia, in country : where few haV&«l|fflnre fofo learning awareness of v me<sdeepec!f springs of their nature. - .ft In time .of war and .uncertainty and?i tragic horiror it is the ‘duty otfjtoliticaUi leaders to represent as theyi? can) the emotional issues facing uajfi. Poetry, it is at least arguable;; bte dlffi ferent, less immediate purposes#) ful-!i fil. Of these Mr -Stewart' seemiKto be’; aware when he writes of toqdgjiMeß He is the stone man ’ crushi#ls|n wheel of history, He Is the green man of the grass. ■- ft He is the warm man, lover aaMßtt»-’ v of children,' JSfe' [r ' And by his endurance the Wond on.to the light .... ( . s i., , Rhetorical, imperfectly generalised,;' as these lines are, they proceed from;;; an impulse which may be supposed to*} ; be poetic, “Journalistic" vmuldpMk*. scribe better the impulse jbdjlndr 111 “sonnets" beginning: “War Is*artSfoiß jfl decision . . “Burning vmp, the mouth of hell at midnight, , andil “We thought we had buried #ar„ttitb]|; the Unknown Soldier." Mr ■ SteWarttj pleases more, both in form and inwhatii| he says, in another, sonnet seqUSnceinij; this book, “The Dreaming World.”;;, Here are displayed resources ofcsajsujji ous imagery, large enough’’•'almost M: be distinctive in a New zeiuimdiKir.t. is he now an Australian?— pity is that he seems even- Icssot- v scious here of the faults of hi&ifjamjui than in “The White Cry," hftrvo%;U published in England One cannot overlook the' glib filling ok. a line by the phrase “aU ..g(fito{aDQHi fair,” anaemic epithets in rsegumc&jl, (“sweet dark hidden eyes”), rhythmic insensitiveness which betnjw;*; Vn'm, from a loosened a monotone of five bumpy, EXCITEMENTS | t 1 SEVENTY-SEVEN . |j Death in the Sun. ByCharles Stt&iji Robert Hale Ltd. 248 pp. Through White ombe and TjphJ Ltd. • jj | May Parmlee’s ambitions to tfianJKji form American opera and.bauet sur-W rounded her, at her'sun-grifl|d -•»»$ sand-baked settlement , of Sweaty-Hj Seven Palms, with a most extra<#U-|L nary company. Massing Balankoii/)jP*;? parently “one of those Russians,” Don- y aid O’Dell, a theatre-wrecking c*n-|!| ductor, Sid Page, lighting „ Ahmecamec, “Egyptian guy, f»|} Princess Nefer Tari, the ;Sleep,’|, ’ were some of Princess’s deep-sleep id. the sand .was soon police,", said? May at the curious ' about corpses. ; ■!■ be done to prevent'tpo’-rouch. ?[; into things,”, as she said’also. JTlus u ;i| why the reader will be puzzled—and amused—to the last line of the la»y; page. , Pj ■■ # ART AND ESPIONAGE The V Plan. By Graham Setdn. Ej*»’ and Spottiswoode. '368 pp. . net.) ; Colonel Duncan Grant, once agaitti is the hero of this spy thriller, in which with the help of his nephew, Jame* Monro, and other associates, he f ous the schemes of the clever Graf von Durkheim. This remarkable spy s genius as a painter enables him to pay,. B very convincing part as Henri Bason, Alsatian artist, while he uses a corrupt French general and an even worse t French politician to secure the . betrayal of the Anglo-French war pl^nsWESTERN ROBIN HOOD ; : The Shadow Rider. By William Colt . Mac Donald. Hodder and Stoughton. 254 pp. (8/3 net.) From W S. Smart. The Gila Shadow is so gallant # • bandit that it is no surprise, some w on in this story, to learn what' made him one and to find'that it is . pos* sible to admire him with a _ clear conscience. 3y then he has made to® righteous cause of Senor Santkgo?rM_ own; and the adventures in wraeftMK saves Santiago’s son and daughterJPy trieves bis treasure and fair name/eoe ■ assists him to lay low his torru)« enemy. El Gato, are cracking good to read. Rhubarb and Oxalic A copy of Miss Anne detective story, Miss Milverton (Blea 288 pp. 8/-), has been received througji s Messrs Whitcombe and Tombs LW. This novel, which ingeniously exploit the fact that rhubarb contains oxalic acid, was reviewed here on November 29. Sex Psychology Mr William A, Mcßae’s Sex; and Marriage (Oxford UmversuT Press, Melbourne. 107 pp. 4/6) is, m' tended to giv “a clearer insight the working of the emotions, and tne importance of psychological factors m general health and well-being, part l larfy in relation to matters pi so, love, and marriage.” The book is base® on Mr Mcßae’s experience as a cotsuiting analytical psychologist ana use the same merits, in sanity and sunpucity, as his recent “About Ourselves ana Others.” Contract Messrs Whitcombe and Tombs Ltd. have issued the sixth edition, reyisea and enlarged, of Mr M. Banks s A . Simple Way of Learning Contract Bridge (34 pp. 2/6). This little book. v, is No. 6 in the publishers’ Simple , Guide Series. 1