Autumned Cadenza: Selected Poems, Ballads and Translations

Mary Jane Starr was with the National Library of Canada in Ottawa.

In Autumnal Cadenza, Ella Bobrow selects 40 of her own compositions and 14 pieces she has translated from chiefly Russian poets, and groups them in five sections. Her earlier works in English, Russian, and German include Irina Istomina, The Three Brave Snowflakes, I Wait for a Miracle, and Amber Elixir.

The themes of liberation and freedom in personal and political contexts inform much of this verse. The question of personal freedom is longingly expressed in the series of poems on an enduring commitment to a distant spouse. Liberation in political terms is addressed in the poems such as “J’accuse,” “The Secret Flower,” and “In a Gulag Camp.” In Canada, where political freedom is a reality, the poet is unstinting, unrestrained, and decidedly uncritical in her praise: ballads become paeans as in “La Fête du Sucre” and “Ballad of the Canadian Wheat Dynasty.” Rhyme, irony, and gentle humor thankfully play mitigating roles in relieving the adulatory tone.

Ella Bobrow’s sensibility is honed and her sincerity is authentic; unfortunately, in these poems, both become mired in sentiment. So much so that the cadenza, that parenthetic flourish, is only faintly heard.