JOHNSON, B.S. Poems. London: Constable and Company. 1964.
Tall 8vo. Green cloth with gilt lettering on spine complete with green dust jacket; pp. [6], 7-53, [3]; slight off-setting to free end paper; rubbing to top and bottom of spine; closed tears on the bottom of dust jacket and on the top edge of dust jacket spine; otherwise very good.
First edition.
Poems was the first book of poetry from Johnson and published very shortly after the release of his debut novel, Travelling People. In the majority, the poems are composed in syllabic metre which is contrasting to the stress metres in English and which was a device that allowed Johnson to open up colloquial speech patterns instead of resorting to a more contrived verse for his observations on daily existence. As indeed the blurb of this first edition concludes, the poems are “not intellect-in-verse, nor didactic-in-verse, not wit-in-verse, but poetry-in-verse”. Conditions of Living is a prime example of Johnson’s examination of the minutiae of our little but profound lives, “Living a whole life has three conditions…/of these I have the easier two,/but lack the third in lacking you”.
#2120959