A NEW PUDNEY

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32032, 5 July 1969, Page 4

A NEW PUDNEY

Spandrels. By John Pudney. Dent. 72 pp.

The unenthusiastic reception of Pudney’s “Collected Poems” (1957) is not difficult to explain: it did, after all, represent the “climax” of twelve volumes of poetry none of which had caused any real interest among critics. After “Collected Poems,” Pudney seems to have been discouraged, and applied himself to “Pick of Today’s Short Stories,” which he had been editing for some time. Then years later when “Spill Out," his next book of poems, appeared, a radical change in his concept of poetry dissociated him almost completely from the formal, uninspired verse full of commonplace sentiments which had filled his early volumes. Not only did “Spill Out” discard form—even his attitudes and ideas had been developed considerably. If the technical change is easily explained, that of his opinions is hot One thing is certain: if the form were removed from the earlier poems, there would in many cases be practically nothing left But with the new style of “Spill Out” and now of “Spandrels” lack of form within the line is compensated by a more meaningful structure within the poem, and a much deeper emotional sensitivity. Speech rhythms have replaced the earlier monotonous pulse, and diction is now completely naturalistic, very different from the self-conscious pomposity of “Almanack of Hope” or the tiresome bombast of “South of Forty.” Possibly from short stories, Pudney has developed a masterful knack for character depiction, and a good sense of narrative structure. These changes are typified In his various “ballads.”

The early ballads were very conventional—monostrophic, and mostly' in ballad stanzas. Peculiarly, the narrative element was slight, and some of them were almost lyrics disguised as ballads. But what Pudney now refers to as “ballads” are strikingly different long narrative sequences with well-drawn characters, clear chronological development, pathos or tragedy at the end, and of course no strophic pattern. The boundary between these and short stories is slight, but the verdict comes on the side of poetry because of the precision with which he employs every word, and the tremendous range of effects he gains from line formation. Although there is no punctuation, every line is end-stopped, with a unit of meaning complete within every line. This gives the ballads a tone of breathless urgency, which admirably suits the common themes of illusion and deception. There are also finelyworded lyrical passages which Pudney seems able to put into the mouth of any character, with complete appropriateness. The wouldbe hells-angel: What can I give you Suite Suze I’m high I'm stoned 0 what can I give you and hospital visitors: You’re lucky to be alive aren’t you really. The triumph of these two recent books is the greater because of the antagonism which most readers seem to feel against older poets who try to write like Adrian Henri. "Spandrels” Is worth the attention of all poetry readers, especially those who after “Collected Poems” decided to disregard Pudney’s I work.