308
ROBERT
BOYERS
There have been a number of complaints already that Snodgrass'
"despairing voice is half-heartedly one-toned," as one reviewer put it.
I should speak instead of control, the poet's unyielding stranglehold on
the ordering of events in his poems, events which otherwise might
threaten to tear to shreds the fabric of the poet's sanity. I don't know
that singleness of tone need
be
a liability, at least not insofar as the
poet is the maker of individual poems, complete unto themselves, rather
than the maker of a whole range of poems that together constitute his
opus.
It
is certainly too early to speak of Snodgrass as a major figure in
the poetry of our time, precisely because he has not written enough for
us to make such judgments, and because there is relatively little variety
in his approach to his craft. What we can say is that he has written a
number of exquisite poems that seem destined to be remembered as
part of the finest lyric poetry of our time. Certainly he has succeeded
the late Randall Jarrell as our most heart-breaking poet, this being a
title originally ascribed to Jarrell by his friend Robert Lowell. In fact,
Snodgrass' poetry has consistently evoked from readers a degree of pity
and sympathy that has made it all but impossible to consider the poems
with any kind of detachment. The voice has been so honest, so very
Bl'Ndw.y .nd 88th St....t
TR 4-9119
