Ours is more than ever a poetry of the recapture of lost worlds—a nation's or a region's deep history, the buried memories of families, the primal impressions of early childhood. A poet like the Irishman Thomas Kinsella, who engages these worlds ably and bravely, can reach past surface charm and nostalgia to discovery. He is coping with the intractable….

Mr. Kinsella is a true elegist with a bitter, grieving, melodious tongue. Now that he has assembled his poetry in two volumes ["Poems 1956–1973" and "Peppercanister Poems 1972–1978"], Americans will have ready access for the first time to the whole range of his work since 1956 (including his superb translation of the Cuchulain saga, "The Tain"). It is a great deal to try to absorb at once. The rich elegiac strain and the painful note of reminiscence involve extremes of tonality: subtle wit, easy humor, flat candor, bursts of visionary transport...