Songs for a Little House

Songs for a Little House is Christopher Morley’s second collection of poetry. The reading copy that I used for this review was one in the library collections of the University of California that had been digitized for Google Books. I downloaded it at no cost to me. I thought that I might be violating some sacred trust between myself and used book dealers by succumbing to the temptation, but I do own a copy of the book and was loath to buy another. The copy I own was a little fragile and I couldn’t bring myself to carry it around.

Morley wrote poetry to sing the praises of aspects of life that he adored. In Little House he dabbles in the domestic life and comes down firmly in favor of city life over rural. My experience in reading poetry is lacking, but my prejudice is that poetry resides more in the pastoral countryside than in urban cacophony. Morley loved the latter.

Also characteristic of Morley’s poetry was that he gave his sense of humor free reign. Thus we have a section in Little House that groups together several views on hay fever which is titled “Hay fever and other literary pollen.” Here we are treated to Morley writing in the style of authors such as Rudyard Kipling, Amy Lowell, and Edgar Lee Masters. I like the last one, which clearly recalls for me the Spoon River Anthology.

There is another section where Kit, (mind if I call him “Kit”?) practices the sonnet form. I like the discipline implicit in taming your perceptions and ideas so that they organize into a traditional structure. It compels the writer to search not only for beautiful words to express himself, but also the right kind of words to satisfy the demands of the form.

The final characteristic that I will mention in Morley’s writing in general, and in this book in particular, is his propensity for autobiography. Take the following concluding couplet from “Ars Dura” as an example:

And yet, such joy does in that craft abide
he greats the paper as the groom the bride.

That is a lovely and compelling metaphor in describing the poet or writer. ( )