A Language Not to Be Betrayed

Between 1906 and 1912, before he turned to poetry, Thomas contributed annually about 100 reviews for a variety of British newspapers and journals. This superb collection includes reviews of other critic's essays and Belles Lettres; discussions of the works of Blake, Burns, Shelley, Clare, Keats and Tennyson; and considerations of contemporary poets, ranging from Hardy, Lawrence, Synge and Yeats to Pound and the Imagists. Thomas often reviewed a single book for a number of periodicals, always taking pains not to repeat himself in print. Thus, three reviews of Frost's North of Boston nicely complement one other and create a full commentary of the work. Also here are reviews of prose by Wilde and Pater, Thomas's reknowned journalism of the English countryside and commentary of nature writers such as Richard Jefferieswhose writings Thomas championed. (March)