SOURCE: Lensing, George. A review of The Eye-Beaters, Blood, Victory, Madness, Buckhead and Mercy, by James Dickey. Carolina Quarterly 22, no. 2 (spring 1970): 90-1.

In the following essay, Lensing offers a negative review of The Eye-Beaters, Blood, Victory, Madness, Buckhead, and Mercy.

When James Dickey's Poems 1957-1967 appeared three years ago, the poet found himself suddenly promoted to the front ranks of American versifiers: Louis Untermeyer described the volume as the “outstanding collection of one man's poems to appear in this decade,” while Peter Davison suggested that Dickey might well nudge his way onto the niche of eminence with Robert Lowell as a “major” poet. Dickey's next volume, therefore, has been awaited with some anticipation, and The Eye-Beaters, Blood, Victory, Madness, Buckhead and Mercy, it seems to me, does not forcibly advance his reputation.

Dickey's power as a poet has depended upon a fairly repetitive technique: a human psyche is...