Penguin New Writing, No. 21. Edited by John Lehmann. (Penguin
Books. 9d.)
PERHAPS the most welcome and unusual contribution to this number is Veronica Wedgwood's " Poets and Politics in Baroque England." Many people delight in Davenant's or Quarle's poetry, knowing little or nothing of the age that produced it. Miss Wedgwood can satisfy this curiosity, passing with ease and authority from Callot to Simplicissimus, " the nightmare novel of the Thirty Years' War." Henry Reed has a perceptive appreciation of Edith Sitwell's poetry, and John Lehmann, on the Penguin New Writing's twenty-first birthday, gives a flash-back, justifiably proud of the valuable work he has published. Day Lewis' poem shows his usual accomplish- ment, and " A Man-made World," like other of Spender's poems, has sudden lyrical lines that seem to soar beyond the rest of the poem. The rapportage is not particularly vivid except for John Summerfield's evocation of some terrible subalterns and their women, who bring an atmosphere of Kensington-cum-Eastbourne and Rugger team into the remote mountains near the Tibetan frontier. Laurie Lee's poetry and Osbert Sitwell's story are far from their author's best. In future, Penguin New Writing will be a quarterly and can be supplied by post to regular subscribers.
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