Books: Modern Poets

THE WORLD'S BODY—John Crowe Ransom—Scribner ($2.75).

There is no primer of modern poetry. Readers who are intimidated by its obscurity soon find that most prose explanations tend to become almost as obscure as the poems, and generally duller. And they usually conclude, sometimes with a feeling that they may be missing something, but more often with a conviction that they are not, that contemporary poetry is a doubtful contribution to the world they know. John Crowe Ransom's The World's Body is not a primer of poetry, but it contains one of the clearest explanations...