The Avenue Bearing the Initial of Christ into the New World (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Galway Kinnell
- First Published: 1960
- Type of Work: Poetic sequence
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric sequence
- Subjects: New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, New York City, Religion, Jews or Jewish life, City life, Death or dying, Lower classes, Undertakers or undertaking, Catholics or Catholic Church, Jesus Christ, Concentration camps, Cities or towns
The Poem
“The Avenue Bearing the Initial of Christ into the New World,” a long poem in free verse, is divided into fourteen sections of varying lengths. The title suggests the setting for the poem, Avenue C in New York City’s Lower East Side.
Although a first-person narrator does appear in section 9, essentially, the poem’s concern is larger than a single consciousness: Galway Kinnell is more interested in revealing the complexities of urban life in twentieth century America than he is in telling secrets about his own personal life.
Kinnell begins the poem...
[The entire page is 2198 words long]
