BA. Conrad Aiken

3. The Charnel Rose, Senlin: A Biography, and Other Poems. Boston: Four Seas, 1918. Reprint, New York: Haskell House, 1971.

Includes Variations (formerly VARIATIONS I-XVIII [2]).

a. The Charnel Rose. The second of five Aiken ‘symphonies’, all of which rely to some degree on the ‘Impressionistic’ technique Miner equates with interest in ukiyoe (see A25). Written in 1915, according to the preface to The Divine Pilgrim (15). Reprinted, considerably revised, as the first part of that collection. Compare to Aiken’s later ‘symphonies’ (see 9 and 15) and others by Ficke (BG8c and 9c) and Fletcher (BH2b and 4b), each of which derives subject and imagery from particular works of Japanese art. In 1915, it might be noted, Fletcher and Aiken were neighbours on Walnut Street in Boston.