To call a poet "professional" nowadays usually means that he is being mildly dull, writing the same poem many times over in a mildly competent way. But the term can also be applied approvingly to a poet whose technical skills do ready service to a questing imagination. Babette Deutsch's Collected Poems, the work of four decades, shows her to be without a doubt professional—most often, I'm happy to say, in the happier sense of the word. (p. 277)

In her best poems Miss Deutsch takes the stance of an inspired appreciator. She takes us on a museum tour and brings art to life…. These poems are carefully evocative of the style of whatever old master happens to be the subject. The poem to Cage twitches and sputters its way over the page, ending "Surprise!/Surprise!" Miss Duetsch is extremely good at this sort of complementary mimicry—an ability...