Like many poets writing since World War II, Peter Dale works in both formal and free verse. Seeking clarity above all else, Dale stands ready to use whatever is appropriate, and often his best writing is done while he is poised between the traditionalist's respect for meter and rhyme and the revolutionary's conviction that only freedom produces authenticity. Though usually formal on the surface, Dale's poems employ numerous variations in meter and line length. His career does not divide into two neat periods, one formal the other free; instead he has consistently been willing to take advantage of the latitude offered by free verse without forgetting the forms that make such latitude meaningful in the first place. By today's standards Dale must be judged a formalist, but it is important to remember some of his short, free poems and to recognize the liberties taken even in his most...