MEDITATIVE POET

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 134, 8 June 1935, Page 24

MEDITATIVE POET

The.poems of the late Mr. David A. Strachan, .gathered together by his brother and published in Nelson, reveal a feeling for beauty and a philosophic mind which, with the technical ability he acquired, would have enabled him to write attractive verse had he persisted in cultivation of his gift. About half of the present volume, however, was written before he was twenty years old, and shows signs of promise, rather than intrinsic worth. Very few of these verses have been written in the last twenty years, and the later poems show such an advance in style, so much greater maturity, and so great a change in his general attitude that it is to be regretted he did not work more. Mr. Strachan, however, led a busy career in education, and it is to be supposed that his verses represent the fruits of his leisure. In the early poems he is revealed as a sensitive, wondering young man with a desire for escape which is common of youth. In the later there is evidence of a deeply religious nature, of considerable joy in life, and of a feeling for words and rhythm.. The verses as a whole are conventional, but they have a definite appeal.