THE SCOTSMAN

Edinburgh, Midlothiam, Scotland

15 August 1921

(page 2)

NEW BOOKS.

POETRY.

Songs of the Groves. Records of the Ancient World. [By Victor B. Neuburg] 7s. 6d. net. Steyning, Sussex: The Vine Press.

Modern touches of daintiness in the typography of this pleasant and interesting book of verses by an unnamed writer do not militate against the claim suggested by its subtitle. But the ancient world did not write like this enterprising and entertaining aftercomer. He translates Bion, indeed; sings hymns to Diana; renders a love-poem of Theocritus; imagines what the Druids may have looked like while sacrificing; acclaims Bacchus and Horace; and makes abysm of time. But he is never more at home than in the closing piece that shows him seeking refuge in his garden from the disorders of the twentieth century, and foretelling a return to natural things.