Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System Charles Tomlinson: The Way of His World Author(s): Ruth A. Grogan Source: Contemporary Literature, Vol. 19, No. 4 (Autumn, 1978), pp. 472-496 Published by: University of Wisconsin Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1208095 Accessed: 01-11-2015 11:26 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and University of Wisconsin Press are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Contemporary Literature. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 130.237.165.40 on Sun, 01 Nov 2015 11:26:58 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions CHARLES TOMLINSON:THE WAY OF HIS WORLD Ruth A. Grogan Charles Tomlinson's remark that "the fundamentalinterests of a poet's work do not alter"l holds true of his own work, and as the volumes of poems continue to appear, it becomes evident that Relations and Contrariesthe title of his first book publishedin 1951, may some day be used for his CollectedWorks. Critics and reviewers have seen from the beginningthat his imageryand vocabularyare concerned with, to use his own phrase, "the fineness of relation- ships,"2being comprisedof bridges,windows, meetings, encounters, truces, reciprocations,and resistances.Twenty-five years after that firstvolume, however,we have come to a pointwhen the variousness, adventurousness,even deviousnessof these fine relationshipscan be analyzedand followedwith greater appreciation.