Reviews

Twenty-five young poets (by fiat born after 1940) make up the angels in this collection who carry on a curious "rebellion" against the then rebellious poetry of the 1960s and 1970s, which had waged such an effective war against rhyme, meter, narrative, and all such other traditional artifices deemed antithetical to Truth. Their work is anthologized here under the banner of "The New Formalism," a program committed to the rediscovery of the "inherent power of measured speech, even rhyme, and the power of narrative." The result is a collection of poems that clearly gain focus and accessibility from the rigor of the formulas and rules they unabashedly embrace, without, in most cases, losing the alleged honesty and sincerity that unfettered "free verse" had formerly promised. These are good poems that render a wide variety of contemporary American experiences. Recommended for general readers and particularly for those interested in modern poetry.‘Thomas F. Merrill, Sanibel P.L., Fla.