The Roots of Modern English by L. M. Myers and Richard L. Hoffman (review)

74ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW the danger that is an undercurrent in these poems. Images of desertion are consistent throughout the book, beginning with the poem entitled "Father," whose theme is that of a mother leaving her children. In "Amputee ," we learn from the speaker that the mother was distant, already disappearing even before she abandoned her family. In "Marriage Poem," the speaker is deserted by males in the first three sections of the sequence. In the last, she is given away in marriage by her father, another form of betrayal and degradation. "Child Molester" imparts the painful realization of both reader and speaker, that if anyone would return, even the man who assaulted her, she could learn not only freedom, but could also gain revenge: come back, come back, i will show you what you have done, how at my screaming and your weight the bloodflowers sprang, do not be afraid; no one knows. . . There are few places where light breaks through these poems. They are passionate portrayals of a girl and young woman oppressed sexually and psychically. They call to mind the starkness of Philip Levine's Depression poems, 1933, a book reflecting the lives of people without hope of sustenance or light for the spirit. Martha Mihalyi's poems deserve a better printing than Red Weather has afforded. It is unfortunate that small presses operate on limited finances, because Biood/Iou>ers, if printed with proper typescript, with italics rather than underscore, a more professional binding and cover, would be an exciting contribution to the small press world. In any case Ms. Mihalyi will not be ignored as a poet. Her voice opens wounds we would like to ignore and leaves us with afterimages too uncomfortable to shake loose. LINDA HOGAN, Rocky Mountain Women's Institute L. M. Myers, and Richard L. Hoffman, The Roots of Modern English. 2. ed. Boston: Little, Brown, 1979. 321 p. The new edition of The Roots of Modern English by L. M. Myers and Richard Hoffman poses problems. Most students would find the majority of the material difficult unless they had a prior knowledge of the earlier forms of the English language. In comparing this second edition with the first edition written by Myers alone, one notices that two new emphases are mentioned: historical and linguistic. Examination, however, reveals little difference in historic approach. Readings of the chapters on Old English and Middle English, for instance, show slight additions within some rearrangement. Actually, there is very little history, for these chapters quickly develop into lengthy BOOK REVIEWS75 discussions of phonological and morphological aspects. Additions are a chapter on contemporary developments in America by Samuel R. Levin and Constantine Kaniklidis which proceeds from the Noam Chomsky focus to transformational-generative syntax and later theories, and a few illustrations by Wayne Phelps. This book is valuable for professors and for students on the upper or graduate level. The companion book has many examples ofOld and Middle English writings and excellent review questions. For the average undergraduate student, however, less on the changing sounds of the language and of its changing form would be preferable, with greater emphasis on cultural changes, especially during postinvasion periods. On the whole, too, one could hope for a better balance of phonological, morphological, syntactical , and semantic information along with more interesting detail of England 's history, and with more of the twentieth century archaeological discoveries that have changed many older theories concerning the English language and the Indo-European family to which it belongs. To use this book with such changes in mind would cause much of the contents of Roots to be omitted. The book is hardbound, with a detailed table of contents, a select bibliography, an index, and some black-and-white illustrations. LINDA J. ROBINSON, Eastern New Mexico University Dietrich Nehls, ed. Studies in Descriptive English Grammar. Heidelberg: Julius Groos Verlag, 1978. 114 p. This anthology of seven articles on the grammatical description of English as a Foreign Language consists of reprints from the /nternationai Review of Applied Linguistics (IRAL) between 1968 and 1977. It represents Volume 1 of Studies in Descriptive Linguistics, a series dedicated to the description of English, German, French, Russian and Spanish. The...