The symbolism of C.J. Brennan : a study of Brennan's symbolic practice in Poems 1913.

Every poet stands for trial by the new generation: continual effort is demanded, for not until we have examined all the evidence at our disposal, are we fit to judge. In Brennan's case, an effort greater than usual is required, for though the body of his poetry is not large, a considerable amount of extraneous material surrounds it. Our way is obscured at the outset by an army of exegetical writings. The ultra-serious modern critics of Brennan, Who tend to regard the whole matter as that difficult and many-sided subject, the \Poetry of C.J. Brennan\" analyse it in Parts with detailed explications de texte. For instance G.A. Wilkes's study New Perspectives on Brennan's Poetry(ils thorough and well-executed an indispensable aid to the student of Brennan. Wilkes is as much as any scholar now living an expert in the field: but does he finally come to grips with the poems themselves? It is clear that what much recent criticism of Brennan fails to supply is an evaluation of the verse; and so from the outset this was my final goal."