The Improved Binoculars. Rev. ed.

Laurence Steven is Chairman of the English Department at Laurentian
University and author of Dissociation and Wholeness in Patrick White’s
Fiction.

Originally published in 1956, Improved Binoculars is testimony to
Layton’s status as an important Canadian poet. Even today, in the
cynical 1990s, his themes of beauty, sex, and mortality remain fresh.
Moreover, it is the sincerity and commitment to life reflected in these
themes that explains the longevity of his poetry. Readers are fascinated
by the life in his verse. The harsh realism found throughout his work
was initially shunned because of the strict moral standards of the
1950s. That same harsh realism is today considered by many to be an
accurate portrayal of the human condition; what shows up now in relief
against our jaded, cynical age is Layton’s fervid commitment, which
then enhances the significance of his poetry. The moral dimension in a
poem like “Thanatos and Eros” is surely easier to appreciate in the
1990s that in the 1950s: “Love’s frolic the weak churl though and
shed / Hot seed against her indifferent thigh.”

An aspect of Layton’s poetry that continues to impress is his wide
range of images. Readers are taken on a roller coaster, from extremes of
warmth and beauty to bleak satire. In “The Madonna of the
Magnificat” the mother “has borrowed the white moon from the sky /
to pillow his golden curls.” The opening lines of “Street Funeral”
are a complete contrast, but equally moving: “Tired of chewing / the
flesh / of other animals.”

It is remarkable just how few lapses Layton has from this intense level
of expression. The reissuing of The Improved Binoculars gives new
Canadian poets something to strive for.