THE CROWNING PRIVILEGE

This book is made up of six lectures sponsored annually by Trinity College, Cambridge. Graves, known chiefly as a novelist, chose for his subject "Professional Standards in English Poetry". His chief point is that poets belong to no guild, group, society or association, have as their only allegiance the Muse herself and if they are false to this "crowning privilege", they betray the cause of poetry. On this theme Graves strings an enormous amount of erudition from Irish, Welsh and Druidic sources, down through the centuries to modern times, and leaves himself ample play for all his pride and prejudices. Besides these lectures there are a few short essays on various aspects of poetry and sixteen new poems by the author. He is erudite, paradoxical, opinionated and occasionally verbose- and addresses an audience of scholars and critics.