Denis Glover and the Craft of Poetry

Abstract

The author investigates the evidence in Glover's central volume of poems, Enter Without Knocking, and concludes that the poetic level in them is extraordinarily mixed. In the best poems, there is excellent song-like prosody, delicately suggestive imagery, subtle handling of persons, all in the service of a vigorous Romanticism which does not deny the brutal facts of existence. Unfortunately, with rare exceptions such as The Magpies, the best poems are almost wholly confined to Sings Harry and Arawata Bill. Within the format of Enter Without Knocking this gives us something like 70 out of 170 pages on which we may be confident Glover's reputation will rest.