THE SCOTSMAN

Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland

8 June 1903

(PAGE 2)

NEW BOOKS.

POETRY.

Ahab and Other Poems. By A. Embly. London: Privately printed at the Chiswick Press.

Ahab, and Other Poems. By Allister Crowley. With an Introduction and Epilogue by Count Vladimir Svareff. London: Privately Printed at the Chiswick Press.

There are not many pieces in this elaborately and handsomely printed large quarto, about which the first thing that impresses a reader is an odd typography, more luxurious than legible until custom has made it easy to read. The chief piece is a monologue in studiously simple verse, not unmusical, which sets forth the reflections of King Ahab, firstly in his pride, and afterwards in his humiliation after the affair of Naboth’s vineyard. Then there is a sonnet to Balzac, inspired by Rodin’s statue; then a piece of fine-spun verse-making about Melusine, that endeavours to produce the exquisite shudder which some say is the last effect of poetic art; then an irresponsible ecstasy about a dream; while the book is rounded off by a sonnet from another hand than its author’s. The whole thing is elegant and refines; but it is the product of a polite accomplishment rather than essential poetry.