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ALAN BROWNJOHN

Dannie Abse abstracts a mild and attractive romanticism from the territory of Larkin and Edward Thomas: and one could say that Larkin is better with the kind of pathos attempted in say, 'From a Suburban Window' and 'Interview with a Spirit Healer'. In fact, some of the poems in A Small Desperation are almost too gentle and approachable. Abse has an easy, public vein which succeeds agreeably in the lighter pieces (like the Causley-ish 'Ballad of Oedipus Sex') but can carry over disarmingly into some of the serious ones, reducing the effect. Where the more questioning elements are given rein, he is sometimes very telling: 'Fah' especially, and 'Hunt the Thimble', start some disquieting echoes.

Alan Brownjohn, "Pre-Beat," in New Statesman (© 1968 The Statesman & Nation Publishing Co. Ltd.), Vol. 76, No. 1951, August 2, 1968, p. 146.∗

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1. Introduction
2. James D. Finn
3. Isabel Quigly
4. The New Yorker
5. Edwin Muir
6. Gene Baro
7. Roland Mathias
8. Alan Brownjohn
9. The Times Literary Supplement
10. J. W. Lambert
11. Howard Sergeant
12. John Tripp
13. John Mole
14. William H. Pritchard
15. Douglas Dunn
16. Michael J. Collins
17. Grevel Lindop
18. John Cassidy
19. Theodore Weiss
20. Copyright