Oracles

8 essay contains a complete solution of the Problem of Creation, which has baffled all brains less astute and profound than our author’s. The Essay has since been reprinted with added references and elucidation of some of the more abstruse pro- positions ; this edition is therefore of interest only as an Editio princeps. Ahab, etc. 5s. A companion to “ Jezebel.” The present low price is due to the recent issue, and the larger number of copies issued (150). Its intrinsic interest is however profound. “ Mr Aleister Crowley’s previous work has been eccentric, and at the best he has done more to provoke curiosity than to give confidence. Now he chooses to handicap himself by printing his poems in a type that must inevitably impose restrictions upon many readers, and we think that the diction, usually admirably simple, of the principal piece in ‘ Ahab and Other Poems ’ (Chiswick Press, pp. 34, 5s. net) suffers from an interruption of the fluency of its rhythms. Mr Crowley has amplified the Biblical narrative, and, with an obvious revolt of sympathy, has given to the savage figure of Ahab something of the nobility of reason that rebels against the tyranny of his fate. There is a modern self-consciousness in this tragic, brooding monologue :— ‘ I see him, a fantastic ghost, The vineyard smiling white and plain, And hiding ever innermost The little shadow on his brain ; I laugh again with mirthless glee, As knowing also I am he. A fool in gorgeous attire ! An ox decked bravely for his doom ! So step I to the great desire. Sweet winds upon the gathering gloom Bend like a mother, as I go, Foreknowing, to my overthrow.’ Mr Crowley has some doubtful phrases, but most of his verse is clear and moderate. Here is his picture of Naboth :— ‘ The beast. A gray deceitful man, With twisted mouth the beard would hide, Evil yet strong ; the scurril clan Exaggerate for its greed and pride, The scum of Israel ! At one look, I read my foe as in a book.