SOURCE: "'To Wish Back Eden': The Community Theme in Charles Tomlinson's Verse," in The Midwest Quarterly, Vol. XXX, No. 3, Spring, 1989, pp. 346-60.

In the following essay, Ponsford maintains that Tomlinson's interest in the idea of community is directly related to his growing concern with the idea and ideal of Eden.

Charles Tomlinson is one of Britain's most admired poets, and one of her most prolific. His [Collected Poems] represent four decades of intense poetic activity; yet his has never been a household name, and even among his admirers, he is still regarded with some suspicion. Readers, perhaps, are discomforted by the inclusiveness of his verse, which ranges over vast geographical and intellectual landscapes. He describes a familiar English pastoral, the rural West Country, in a decidedly modern setting; but he is also the poet of New Mexico and New York, Arizona and Maine. He delves into the past...