Swenson, May - John Berryman (essay date 1956)

John Berryman (essay date 1956)

SOURCE: "The Long Way to MacDiarmid," in Poetry, Vol. LXXXVIII, No. 1, April, 1956, pp. 52-61.

[Berryman is considered one of the most important modern American poets. His work developed from objective, classically controlled poetry into an esoteric, eclectic, and highly emotional expression of his personal vision. In the following review of Another Animal, Berryman finds some of Swenson's verse undistinguished but also cites indications of promise.]

[Swenson's Another Animal appears in a volume of the series Poets of Today with Poems and Translations by Harry Duncan and Samurai and Serpent Poems by Murray Noss.] Swenson … is described on the jacket as having come from Utah "to New York City where she holds an active job." One looks to the next sentence to hear what this may be. No: "Her poems have appeared" etc. It is hard to know whether to be pleased that she holds an...

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