A
Plausible Light is the last book of a strong and distinguished
talent. Paul Smyth had an easy mastery of verse forms, a vivid
narrative gift, a good acquaintance with fact and natural
process, and a rare capacity for confronting what is painful
in life. He had, for instance, a Frostian power to acknowledge
fear--an emotion which he finds even in the sound of a
hummingbird's wings. Whatever is strikingly said is to some
extent disarmed, and for all its darkness Smyth's poetry has
high morale. Of the many poems one might single out, it is
“Erik Satie: Trois Gymnopedies“ which seems to me the gem
of this selection; as an evocation both of music and of sad
experience, it is a triumph of articulateness.
—Richard Wilbur, U.S. Poet Laureate, author of Collected
Poems, 1943-2004
Smyth's
formal poems, many of them sonnets, are exquisitely crafted
and satisfyingly sensuous. The more discursive,
autobiographical poems are heartbreaking. And Coda, the final
section, deserves close study; it is both moving and
gratifying.
—Maxine
Kumin, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, author of Jack and Other
New Poems
There is a
great deal to admire [in A Plausible Light], little to
condemn, and nothing to gainsay. It is a hard won volume from
what I take to have been an often unhappy life...I am brightly
impressed by the way [Smyth] approaches allegory in poems like
"The Greenfield," "A Fear," and "Cover," but gracefully steps
away, so that these poems retain fine energy upon rereading
and are not dead exercises at second glance, as hard-and-fast
allegories sometimes are. Of course, in "The Cardinal Sins" he
does undertake allegory, almost in medieval fashion, but this
poem is a wry jeu d'esprit. It is interesting how often he
takes transience as his theme and delivers with true delicacy
the images of things passing, or soon to pass away. "The Girl
at Dawn" is a lovely example, as is "A Little Night Music";
"Road Construction" is a darker, angrier take on the
theme...Paul Smyth is a wonderful poet. The evidence is there
to be seen on almost every page. I do hope that this
sure-handed volume finds the readers it deserves--and who
deserve it. This poet has taken darkness and made of it a
constellation of purest lights."
-Fred
Chappell, North Carolina Poet Laureate 1997-2002, Author of "Midquest"
I have
known Paul Smyth's poems for thirty years. They have always
filled my mind “with
roses, with the hush of a million crisp petals,“ to use his own words. His poetry is, by turns, of
the earth, of human frailty and beauty, and of the Empyrean.
It is also accessible—the sort of poetry that folks who think
they don't like poetry will.
—Barry
Moser, illustrator and author
Paul
Smyth's the kind of poet who can sweep the reader along,
regardless of his previous experience...Very
impressive...for both the range and interest of [his] subject
matter and for [his] technical brilliance. Poems of such
strength, hard-edged clarity, and power to refract color
immediately seize attention and leave images not easily
forgotten. Smyth uses form to work his will....As a recurrent
theme, the quest for light, identity and freedom from pain,
cuts with a special poignancy in Smyth's poetry....As a
treatment of this topic, Smyth's twelve-poem sequence, “Of His
Affliction“ is a stunning performance. This is one of those
exceptional works which permanently alter one's sensibility;
it keeps coming back to haunt the reader....Smyth provides
respite from emotionally draining experience in several fine
pastoral and elegiac poems, particularly about the sea,
evocative lines which gently insinuate meanings for man's
relation to nature. Others are lyrical, comic,
philosophical...Paul Smyth employs elegant forms to transmit
an affecting personal voice.
—Joseph
Parisi, Poetry
Paul
Smyth...has dedicated himself to making poems which are full
realizations in thought, rhythm, imagery, development,
feeling. The craft of the poems is highly accomplished,
existing not for display but to compound and subtilize feeling
and thought....These poems are splendidly unfraudulent, no
slight compliment....The central image in “The Cry,“ a
hay rake sunk in mud, becomes one of the grandest images since
Shakespeare of the wastes of time. The poem is, at least in my
present judgment and awe, one of the best poems of our
century.
—Paul
Ramsey, Sewanee Review
Paul
Smyth began his writing career at a time inhospitable to
formalist poetry. Determined enough to persevere, he achieved
a mastery of traditional verse techniques that few of his
generation could match. A Plausible Light should be welcomed
by readers who appreciate finely managed meters; but they will
find here as well a strong gift for narrative, much clear-eyed
description, and some uncomfortably probing thoughts. Smyth's
poems are a reminder that elegance of style and form may
coexist with powerful, even harrowing feelings.
—Robert
B. Shaw, author of Solving for X
Smyth's poems, which most
concern his search for grace, are meant to be cathartic and to
offer a kind of reassurance. Smyth is, at all times, the poet
of the afflicted and forgotten. He is a witness to injustice
and chronicler of suffering, but is always drawn to the light
and, beyond that, to the healing power of self-expression. He
is perhaps closest to Dylan Thomas, in that respect, of the
poets of his time."
—John A. Murray, The Bloomsbury
Review
