Secrets
ONE of the most hospitable doors in English literature' — Mr. de la Mare's remark on Hardy's lyrics may more suitably be applied to the writings of Mr. de la Mare himself. Hospitable, because he has welcomed so many readers of all ages and moods into his private enchanted world. Like the best hosts, he pre- sides unobtrusively, letting the clumsy public Make what it can of his supernatural jokes and wistful sensitivity. Secrets are an important part of the spell; the sort of secret that makes The Listeners' a childhood favourite, and also makes one wonder whether, for instance, Henry Brocken is as macabre as it seems. Un- fortunately in Walter de In Mare : A Selection from his Writings made by Kenneth Hopkins (Faber, 18s.) both the selection and the intro- ductory essay do Mr. de la Mare small justice. Mr, Hopkins has attempted 'a broad outline' snowing 'the several aspects' of the writer's genius. This emphasis on versatility leads him to choose, for instance, a number of essays and extracts and only five, by no means the °9t, short stories. It is surely not for his °Pinions on Tennyson that one reads de la blare, nor for the 'essential ordinariness' of 8,,L1.0.1ect matter which Mr. Hopkins stresses. Fifty poems are hardly a proportionate con- tribution from fourteen volumes.
MARIGOLD HUNT
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