The word "majestic" comes to mind, to describe these warming poems. Edith writes in 1953 — or anyway, that’s when the book is published — back when you could use words like "azoic" in a poem — actually, use it repeatedly. And assume a vast knowledge of Greek mythology in one’s readers. For example, the line:
And to the azoic heart (where Time, that Medusa, reigns,
turns all to stone) —
(Incidentally, azoic refers to geological eras before the appearance of life.)
And the book has notes! A few chase notes, at the very end. With surprising insights like:
THE ROAD TO THEBES
Part I. — Verses 15 and 16 bear reference to the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
She’s writing about Eastern occultism but cloaking it in Greek religion! How clever! And I love how Edith dedicates almost every poem to her goofy aristocratic friends, like Millicent Huddleston Rogers.
(And who was Millicent Huddleston Rogers? All I can find is a notation below the photo of a bodice by the esteemed couturier Charles James:
Standard oil heiress Millicent Huddleston Rogers wears the bodice with a different skirt in the often-published seated photo of her by Horst. See U.S Vogue, February 1, 1949.)
I wonder how Millicent liked the poem, which begins:
‘Sailor, what of the isles —
The green worlds grown
From a little seed? What of the islands known and those
unknown?’
‘I have returned over the long and lonely sea;
And only human need
For the world of men is mine; I have forgot Immensity.
(Edith loves to write about "the world of men" and "Man." If you look closely, you notice that these references are always slightly insulting.)