29 SEPTEMBER 1928, Page 26

The publication of single poems in decorative booklet form does

not especially appeal to us—it seems just a little precious —but it must be said that the Ariel poem series (Faber and

Gwyer, Is. each) is being produced very attractively indeed. In the new booklets the kingfisher lyric by W. H. Davies, illustrated by William Nicholson, is a gem of collaboration— three charmingly simple verses and a design in vivid colours giving a fine impression of the kingfisher's flight above the water—and Mr. Siegfried Sassoon's quiet-toned poem " To My Mother," with drawings by Stephen Tennant, is scarcely less successful. Mr. Hilaire Belloc's " Chanty of the Nona," with decorations and music by himself, should appeal to coastwise sailors the world over. Other contributors to the series are Walter de la Mare, T. S. Eliot—whose poem, " A Song for Simeon," has not had justice done to it in the illustrations— Humbert Wolfe, Edmund Blunden, Harold Monro, and Edith Sitwell. The design for Miss Sitwell's poem, which is the old " Lily O'Grady, Silly and Shady " stuff is a masterpiece of inanity. * * * *