Neihardt's A Bundle of Myrrh and Man-Song, as he said, were outside of the time-mood. Under the temporary spell of Whitman he had written free verse well before the movement struck around 1912, and his unrhymed love poems, with their irregular rhythm and their mention of "fevered fingertips" and "strange mad fever in the veins", were quite daring for their day.They drew lavish praise from critics for sounding fresh notes counter to the mannered Edwardian poetry of the time. The first volume follows the poet's search for enduring love through adolescent groping and sexual delights, to the discovery of a spirit infused love. In the second volume the lyrics dwell on the delights of love and the fulfillment of marriage.
A song slept in her blood. None had found it--and it slept. Lo! I--even I who am so poor in power, Who was a pauper in conception of harmony, I have awakened by chance the slumbering song!
I am lost in the spaciousness of it; |
Photograph of a bas-relief sculptured by Neihardt's wife, Mona Martinsen.
