Collected Poems review in The Guardian

Unambiguous in its enthusiasm, and poignantly au fait with the tone and scope of the eclectic topics written about, Jay Parini's article in the review section of the Guardian of the 6th September of the Collected Poems of Mervyn Peake, is a delight to read.

Rather than attempting a precis of the many subjects, Parini focuses principally on aspects of the war, with the almost balletic art of the glassblower being one, the sailor and the baby as principals in the long narrative poem, The Rhyme of the Flying Bomb, another, and the return of the soldier to his sweetheart, on leave from the army, reminding the modern reader of another age, another pain.