Criticism > Poetry > Abse, Dannie - Choice (review date 1984)

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Choice (review date 1984)

SOURCE: Review of One-Legged on Ice, by Dannie Abse. Choice 21 (February 1984): 818.

[In the following review, the critic praises the poems in One-Legged on Ice for their balance and duality.]

The title of the Welsh poet Dannie Abse's collection [One-Legged on Ice] is a line borrowed from one of the poems, and it connotes a precariousness and an uncertainty of balance. Technically, these pieces are usually far too well crafted to seem precarious, although Abse's work often takes risks with content and emotion. Occasionally, however, a reader may wish for even more emotion and less intellect, although candid and powerful pieces such as the love poems and the poems about his son satisfy quite admirably one's need for depth and resonance. This collection, offering a careful balance between craft and feeling, between wit and intensity (particularly in the poems written out of Abse's...

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1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Criticism
   1. Roland Mathias (essay date 1967)
   2. Michael Mott (review date 1971)
   3. Times Literary Supplement (review date 1973)
   4. Dannie Abse and Mark Boada (interview date 1975)
   5. John Mole (review date 1977)
   6. Joseph Cohen (essay date 1983)
   7. Gigliol´ Sacerdoti Mariani (essay date 1983)
   8. Vernon Scannell (essay date 1983)
   9. Choice (review date 1984)
   10. Michael O'Neill (review date 1987)
   11. Genevieve Stuttaford (review date 1991)
   12. Publishers Weekly (review date 1993)
   13. Clara Gyorgyey (review date 1998)
   14. Ray Olson (review date 2000)
   15. Nicholas Wroe (essay date 2001)
4. Further Reading
5. Copyright

1. How to Analyze a Poem
2. Poetry