Vernon Scannell
Review
Mr and Mrs Philpott on Holiday at Auchterawe, Helena Nelson, Kettillonia £2.50
The title poem of Helena Nelson’s pamphlet is in fact a sequence of five irregular sonnets which sets the scene for the rest of the poems in this brief collection, all of which, together, form an uncommonly unified whole which celebrates the minor-key, sepia-toned pleasures and pains of middle-aged and middle-class marital love. If this sounds dull, be assured that the poems here, in their variety of form and content, their unflashy technical adroitness, humour, tenderness and truth are consistently entertaining and often quietly moving.
Because of the admirable coherence of the collection, partial quotation from any of the poems would give little idea of the effectiveness of the whole, so the thing to do is to get hold of this thoroughly enjoyable little book. I don’t think you will be disappointed.
Page(s) 89
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