Walls and Hedges by J. Redwood Anderson (1919)

This was Anderson's first publication post-war, and I wonder whether he served and what effect that service had. Coming through the familiar tone from his previous volumes is an unexpected repetitiveness and occasional flatness. That said, there are moments in this which soar. The piece entitled Ecstacy is a perfect example of untrammelled exploration of a tender feeling. His word- and indeed phrase-choice in this poem is spectacular, most obviously when read aloud, allowing the discovery and wonder in the poem to really breathe. There is another called Stars which unfurls a similar array of artillery, with words and inherent wonder brilliantly building the sense of the feeling explored together. The other explanation of the flatness sometimes apparent here is of course the effect of modernism and its typifying repetitions - I am hoping he steered clear, because, as exampled here, it doesn't aid his style. Quite whose it did aid is something I'm on the road to finding out - anyone's? Despite its moments of magnificence, this is the first Anderson volume I've read where he looks vulnerable to failing. Perhaps, though, that's a sign of the movement and turmoil required for something really great to come.....