The History of Jackson County (review)

of a brother and a vision of his return, much as one experiences it in an old English or Scottisn border ballad such as "Little Margaret." Rhymed ballad stanzas alternate skillfully with unrhymed sections that provide exposition and carry the story forward as in Robert Penn Warren's "The Ballad of Billie Potts." This unusual poem has grown slowly with the passage of years. To complete it, Eve Spears has drawn on poems that appeared in one of her previous collections , Laurel Creek, as well as on poems from The Feudalist, a book of poems by her husband, Woodridge Spears. Other poems in A Cloud of Laurels derive strength from the ballad tradition. "The Daughter" (What is the time, O Mother, dear Mother,/ Since I came to bide the night with you?) echoes "Lord Randall" or die German poet Goethe's "Erlkoenig." Like another Kentucky writer, Elizabeth Madox Roberts, (The Song in the Meadow), Spears draws on oral traditions and folk life in such poems as "The Persimmon Tree," "Now Among the Standing Oak," and "Buy My Baskets." In his afterword Wade Hall correctly identifies Eve Spears' "kinship with Eoetic traditions that include Emily»ickinson, A. E. Housman, and the anonymous folk poets and singers of ancient England and Scotland." i But the poet's lines and images are effective irrespective of any literary association , as witness, from "The Hills Brought Low": "The [train] whistle/ Is the lonesome sound/ Drifting back, like smoke." Or, from "Now That He is Dead"; "The reckoning mind/ Gives way/ to marrowbone/ Intelligence,/ The knowledge/ That he knows/ My pain." Eve Spears' poems emerge from the convergence ofher personal experience and talent, and also from a culture and traditions shared with her husband Woodridge Spears, the poet and professor , and with Jesse Stuart, their friend and colleague from the early 1930s. Her handsomely produced A Cloud of Laurels, the twelfth volume of the Poets of Kentucky series, is continuing evidence that Kentucky is, indeed, a 'writerly state." -Jim Wayne Miller WiUiams, Max R., editor. The History ofJacfaon County. Appendix compiled by Cecil C. Brooks and John D. Reid Sylva, North Carolina: The Jackson County Historical Association, 1987. County and local histories are like the old saying about doctors, lawyers, and buzzards' eggs, "There're more hatched tiian come to perfection." Many are produced by local buffs who have more zeal than historical or writing sküls, although many of these are fine, while otiiers written by scholarly and knowledgeable people are often rough going. This 674 page book is a remarkable achievement. It is a thorough and interesting look at one mountain county in North Carotina. It is a cooperative effort , mostly by professors from Western Carolina University and local journalists and others. It can be compared to the excellent Kentucky County History, Madison County: 200 Years in Retrospective , by William E. Ellis, H. E. Everman, and Richard D. Sears (Richmond, KY: Madison County Historical Society, 1985), the authors being professors at Eastern Kentucky University and Berea College. Both diese histories show what can be done in counties with a college or university, if someone or some group is there to engage the talent available and give shape to the effort. This history grew out of die Jackson County Committee to celebrate die Four Hundredth Anniversary of the Roanoke Voyages. A three-man committee was appointed to plan and produce a history. This was 1984. Max R. Williams agreed to be chairperson. The committe shaped me study, sought persons to write difrer68 ent chapters, critiqued their work, and WiUiams agreed to edit the final material . Fourteen persons authored or coauthored fourteen chapters, although two, John L. Bell and Gordon McKinney wrote two each. Beyond these writers, die preface lists dozens of other persons who were involved at all stages of the project-from scholarly advice to cookies for the committee meetings. In addition tiiirty-five persons, businesses, and institutions are listed as patrons, benefactors, supporters, and contributors. This history is a county-wide involvement, and the contents reflect a broad spectrum of Ufe, past and present. It is a sure bet that the book is on many coffee tables throughout the county. Most North Carotinians...