Viv Because I do not have the book on hand, in fact it's loaned out, I am not sure if it does in fact compare WCW & Charles O, their long poems, but it is a fascinating study anyway: Michael André Bernstein, _The Tale of the Tribe_ (can't recall publisher or date, but you can find it with the title I'm sure). I'm willing to bet that some of the Olson studies contain references to Paterson, & that there very well might be a study of precisely what you're looking for in _Sagetrieb_, but I don't know... Douglas Barbour Department of English University of Alberta Edmonton Alberta Canada T6G 2E5 (h) [780] 436 3320 (b) [780] 492 0521 http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/dbhome.htm But the dead are wholehearted about being dead, no half measures no shilly-shallying: they're committed, dedicated to purposelessness. Al Purdy %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%