SOURCE: Latham, David. “From the Hazel Bough of Yeats: Birney's Masterpiece.” Canadian Poetry, no. 21 (fall/winter 1987): 52-8.

In the following essay, Latham discusses “From the Hazel Bough,” a poem once described by Birney as the work of his own that he thought most closely approached the level of a masterpiece.

“Have you ever written a masterpiece?” I first heard this question asked when I attended a poetry reading during my first year at university fifteen years ago. The two readers that evening were Earle Birney and Ralph Gustafson, and after they had finished their readings, the student beside me asked Gustafson the question I thought was so naive. When Gustafson snapped back, “Yes, the one about the apple”¹, I laughed aloud to show him that I recognized the sarcasm behind his quick reply. When he turned to me in surprise, I realized that he had been serious.

A...