Orpheus on Highbeam

Anne Burke is the editor of the Prairie Journal Press and author of
Prairie Journal Prose.

This is the sixth book of poetry by White and, on short notice, I have been able to locate three other selections by the author. His passion for traditional metre and Horatian odes has struck a chord among reviewers, as well as, one may suspect, learned journals like Dalhousie Review and Queen ‘s Quarterly. Critic and fellow poet Mike Doyle in “Character as Poet, Poet as Everyman,” an extended introduction to Stations (Commoner’s Books, 1978), goes so far as to praise him for retrieving the traditional capitalization of line-beginnings! Fortunately White has also tried his hand at free verse and it is easier to assess the true value of his work overall aside from formal considerations.

The title is an apt lead-in for an admixture of satire, lyrical musing, and the contemporary scene. Feminists will not find much comfort here. Perhaps this was the reason why an earlier reviewer called the mood “a perpetual whine.” This bar-brawling poet is a touch sadomasochistic and defiantly so.

Patrick White will always have his comrades and his detractors. The problem is not that much of what he has to say is untrue (about life and death, the evils of society, etc.), but that the reader must be a compassionate listener. The writing is uneven, with some fine, thoughtful lines or entire (brief) passages, but the longer pieces were composed with an outstretched fist.