Contemporary Literary Criticism | Van Duyn, Mona (Vol. 116) - Constance Hunting (essay date 1991)

Constance Hunting (essay date 1991)

SOURCE: "Methods of Transport," in Parnassus, Vol. 16, No. 2, 1991, pp. 377-89.

[In the following excerpt, Hunting faults some elements of style and tone, but offers a generally favorable review of Near Changes.]

Tietjens, Monroe, Bullis, Bollingen, Loines, Shelley, Crane, Lilly—what a long train of prizes and awards for the engine of poetry to pull! During a distinguished career, Mona Van Duyn has won them all. As well, she is a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters and a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. Then there are the fellowships and the honorary degrees…. A very long train indeed, traveling a steady track through a reliable landscape. For thirty years we have been privileged to watch its progress….

"Domestic" is an adjective frequently found in both positive and negative criticism of Mona Van Duyn's poetry. Her subjects are often grounded in the social...

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