The Voyage of the Critic Thomas Newton

THE VOYAGE OF THE CRITIC THOMAS NEWTON

“I have heard writers refer to [William Logan} as ‘the most hated
man in Americanpoetry,’ a title one could be proud of in this time
of fawning and favor-trading’.”--Robert McDowell, Hudson Review

Can there be a more exacting critic than William Logan?

My literary Ark upon the tide
Of mediocrity is carried high
Above the ordinary by the pride
Of Western culture, stored here safe and dry:
The Bible, Shakespeare, Milton, Tennyson,
Wordsworth and Coleridge, Longfellow, Rand.
I wonder far, a lonely denizen,
Searching the seven seas for fertile land.
I feed my rations to the Albatross,
My friend, my guiding star, my only hope
Of drifting through this dreadful sea of dross.
I’m looking through my faithful telescope.
“Two Sonnets,” tower toward the brilliant sky,
I see are answering the question, Why?

Dedicated to Helen Ehrlich