Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Ennis Rees Flawc BY DAVID HAVIRD Sometime ago I was at a party and the wife of one of the more distinguished faculty members at the University asked who the English professor was who wrote poems for children. She was referring to Ennis Rees whose Selected Poems was published recently by University of South Carolina Press. Whether Rees' poems are indeed "children's poems" or not is debatable--I have mixed feelings about it. Many do sound juvenile; and it seems to me at least disconcerting to write in the contemporary idiom of con temporary things. We are all familiar with those things whic are part of the "current scene"--I doubt the contemporary idiom car afford any really new images which might alter our viewing o them. Poems of this kind compris( maybe one-third of the volume. Despite the often puerile quality o the verses, the extraordinar; sensitivity of Rees cannot bi denied. If one finds it the least bi unbelievable that a 49 year-ol man still can be fascinated by small girl dreaming of a tragi "hide-and-seek" and "ring around-the-roses," circus dogs, o common restaurant vignettes, the one must read these poems. At th very least, they are honest. I am tempted to wonder hoi much British poet Robert Grav( influenced Rees. Probably Ree would deny Graves any influenc at all. Yet many of these quie Re At 10 1,100 PAIRS Cul 400 PAIRS H Will be put on and each hour S .50 on thear shop, the bette 10 A.M.-11 A.li 11 A.M.-12 No4 12 Noon-i P.M I P.M.-2 P.M. i221 Ma d But E unpretentious poems do recall Graves'. Both poets emerge proclaiming the poet's obligation as a defender and preserver of form. Yet, whereas Graves has created a personal though esoteric mythology from which all his poems spring, it is not evident that Rees has. Graves' puerility may be appreciated on that level; Rees' often seems mundane. Included in this remarkably handsome volume is an ex ceptionally long poem, "Daze". Though told as a third person narrative, the poem explores the experiences of a girl from her viewpoint, ending in affirmation. But it is not the narrative content which makes this ambitious poem succeed--and it does. Rather it succeeds with its precious lyrical grace, and the subtlety of the rhymes and assonance. "Daze" is a beautiful poem, a poem of language--it is not the end necessarily which delights, but rather the journey there. t "Snakes and Butterflies," the i other singularly ambitious poem, e is an overly lengthy, confused . exposition of "the roiling sub r conscious". Is it supposed to be the n '70's answer to The Wasteland? If e so, it needs the editing of Ezra v Pound or at the very least the ,s breakdown sensibility of Eliot. s Rees' distinction is perhaps not e as an original poet but, like Ed t, ward Fitzgerald, as a translator. al Sale N 1 A.M. Sat. March ] (Saturday Only) Values to $18.00 'fed Baggies and SI V alues to $26.00 igh-Style Double I sale for $5.95 and $14 on the hour the price maining sale items...t r the bargains. I....5.95 & 10.95 2 P.M.-3 P m...5.45 & 10.45 3 P.M.-4 P .....4.95 &9.95 4 P.M.-5 P .....4.45 &9.45 5 P.M.-6 P in St. (Next To Caroll at selection of high stsi [onest The verse translations of Fables from Aesop are a genuine delight many are indc'ed anthology pieces to be read alongside Mother Goose. Again, one is reminded of Robert Graves, at least during his early period of composition, when he wrote fairy tales. Here, Rees is an equal. If this review has sounded something less than favorable overall, it is because I have examined Selected Poems in order of the poems' arrangment in the volume. At last I find Rees' translations from Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. These final fifty pages are worth the price of the book. Rees' translations of the com plete Iliad and Odyssey were published by Random House in 1960 and 1963, respectively. Not being able to read Greek, the most I can say is that to my mind, from a poetic vantage, these are the finest translations of Homer available. What Rees has done, while still maintaining the integrity of the originals, I suppose, is to create new poems. At this point, he and Edward Fitzgerald join ranks. Ultimately , with Selected Poems, we are able to see the uneven, but presumably representative work of a seriously flawed poet who nevertheless erupts with occasional shimmers of brilliance and who remains in our minds innocent, honest, nearly betrayed, and almost always amazed. ).12 16, 1974 lacks $5.95 Enits $10.95 ).95 respectively will be dropped he earlier you M..35& 8.95 M..3.45 & 8.45 M....2.95 &7.95 M....2.45&7.45 nal Theatre) le sportswear. F' . Jimm Cox plays the clown, TouchE Shakespeare's delightful comedy of pastoral romance is running through p.m. Chinese M A Sever BY TIM WILLIAMS I Entertainment Writer Last year the Philadelphia Or chestra toured the People's Republic of China and performed several works by Chinese com posers. Among those played was the "Yellow River" Concerto. After listening to Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra's long-awaited "Yellow River" Concerto album (RCA). I am forced to conclude that Chairman Mlao's cultural revolution has met a severe setback, if not total defeat. 1 To begin with, "Yellow River" is so trite it still sounds bad after interpretation by Ormandy. When not engaging in out-and out theft from that capitalist, Franz Liszt, the concerto utilizes some of the cutest, most overworked themes in the annals of music. t The only hiehpoints are provided by pianist Daniel Epstein who negotiates some of the more complex melodies with inspired Jim G i Keg 0 Discount Wii Your One Stor: Now St Deli Sandwiches Kilbourne & R Ph. 7& tone, in the USC pi oduction of love, "As You Like It." The today in Drayton Hall at 8:15 " uisic: e Setback irofessionalism. God only knows what the source of his inspiration ould be--it surely wasn't the nusic. Following close on the heels of "Yellow River" is another venture into mediocrity, called "San Pei." It sounds more like variations on Mussorgsky's "Gopak" than the "Chinese workers' and Peasants' March". The strongest asset to "San Pei" is that it only lasts about a minute and a half. "Stars and Stripes Forever," the kmerican march, survives )rimarily on it's own merits, for )rmandy has neglected the hardy mnergy of the march and left only he melodic line. "The Pines of Rome" almost aves the album. On "Pines of the /illa Borghese" Ormandy sheds iis reputation as a slow conductor mnd moves forward at his lyrical )est. "Pines Near A Catacomb" is :onducted with a unique, eerie nystery.. rady's Nails 1e and Beer Party Center rrving & Draught Beer osewood Dr. ~-5397