SOURCE: "In Nashion Fashion," in The New York Times Book Review, April 12, 1953, p. 10.

Here, Nichols contends that in The Private Dining Room Nash's style and subject matter matures, and, in an interview with the poet, discusses the factors that influenced his development

Mr. Nash notes the symptoms of middle age: he defends trains, he welcomes the arrival in the house of a son-inlaw "to chew the fat with." Salad dressing comes under his eye—he likes it simple—and parents and children, and there is a summation of all the clichés about dogs and their owners which should end that subject forever. Obviously the only kind of poetry that counts, and at its best.

Poetry?

"What I do is pick up poetry and bash its brains against the sidewalk," said Mr. Nash the other day.

At 50, a date he acquired simultaneously with a grand-child, he now describes...