The title of Peter Davison's book [The Breaking of the Day] is taken from the Old Testament story of Jacob wrestling with the Angel. Specifically, the symbol illuminates the internal agôn of the seven concluding poems, a severe and perilously poised act of introspection. The agonist self is engaged with itself, and the contest ends—if it can be said to end at all—with the equivocal blessing of recognition: 'And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face.' Each of us moves towards his own Peniel in one way or another, and we shall probably agree that Mr. Davison's use of the metaphor is as right as it is impressively climactic. Nevertheless, it is with a minor and more diffuse application of it that I am concerned in this prefatory note. Encounter and struggle are figured here...