The true unity of his oeuvre depends less on a specific allegiance to any particular form than on his fundamental commitment to certain old-fashioned virtues of English poetry–simplicity, clarity, grace, and compassion. His accomplishments, however, go far beyond the ballad he has mastered an impressive variety of forms and styles. Indeed, he is the most celebrated and accomplished living writer of ballads in English–an achievement many critics would consider less a distinction than a disability. Much of Causley’s poetry has been written in the ballad form. Housman, Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling, Walter de la Mare, Edward Thomas, Robert Graves, John Betjeman, Kingsley Amis, and Philip Larkin–to a conservative countertradition in English letters that stresses the fundamentally national character of its poetry and the essential role of popular forms in its inspiration. Taking his inspiration from folk songs, hymns, and especially ballads, Causley belongs–with A. His work bears little relation to the most celebrated achievements of the Modernist movement but refers back to older, more specifically English roots. For half a century Charles Causley has stood apart from the mainstream of contemporary poetry.
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