Galway Kinnell Criticism
The critical scholarship surrounding Galway Kinnell's poetry reveals a deep engagement with themes of mortality, human connection, and the natural world. His body of work is marked by a transition from traditional forms to more experimental verse, capturing the evolution of his thematic preoccupations and stylistic developments. Renowned for his evocative free verse, Kinnell has crafted a poetic legacy that intertwines personal and geographical landscapes, exploring existential questions through a lens of symbolic mythology and natural imagery.
Kinnell's major works, such as Body Rags and Mortal Acts, Mortal Words, delve into the intricate relationships between humans and nature, a theme praised by critics like David Lee Garrison and Elizabeth Lund for its "human warmth" and "generous soul." David Schenker notes Kinnell's "post-Darwinian" approach, while Karen Maceira finds hope in his work amidst cultural cynicism.
His early collection, What a Kingdom It Was, marked a departure from mid-20th-century poetic norms, characterized by a direct and colloquial tone, as highlighted by Louise Bogan. The long poem, The Avenue Bearing the Initial of Christ into the New World, reflects urban life infused with Whitmanesque elements, while The Book of Nightmares captures existential anxieties with Rilkean depth, according to Conrad Hilberry and Andrew Hudgins.
Kinnell's poetic achievements were cemented with his Selected Poems, which earned him the Pulitzer Prize. As Charles Molesworth notes, this collection affirmed his role in reshaping American poetry. It marked a shift towards themes of grace and the "purer wish to live," as observed by Jay Parini.
Despite some criticism of his later works, such as The Past and Imperfect Thirst, which some perceived as "weaker," others like Karen Maceira argue they are integral to understanding Kinnell's evolution towards expressing profound empathy. Morris Dickstein describes Kinnell's "insistence on peering at the bones behind the face," emphasizing his persistent engagement with mortality.
His acclaimed sequence, The Book of Nightmares, offers a profound reflection on life's dualities, inspired by Rilke's Duino Elegies, as noted by Peter Stitt. Although Mortal Acts, Mortal Words received mixed reviews, Stitt recognized its mature vision and love for the natural world. Throughout his career, Kinnell has been celebrated for his ability to address existential questions with a raw, emotional intensity, making his poetry both a personal reflection and a universal exploration.
Despite critiques of structural issues and grotesque themes, as noted by Richmond Lattimore and Alan Helms, Kinnell's work is lauded for its profound imagination and existential exploration, as argued by Jerome McGann. His major work, The Book of Nightmares, is noted for its spiritual and corporeal fusion and ambitious scope, making it a significant contribution to contemporary poetry, as discussed in Galway Kinnell's 'The Book of Nightmares'.
Contents
- Principal Works
- Kinnell, Galway (Vol. 5)
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Kinnell, Galway (Vol. 129)
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An Interview with Galway Kinnell
(summary)
In the following interview, Galway Kinnell, along with Thomas Hilgers and Michael Molloy, explores poetic inspiration, the intersection of personal life and poetry, and discusses the evolving nature of poetry and prose, emphasizing the poet's individual voice and the cultural and personal sources from which poetry emerges.
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Approaching Home Ground: Galway Kinnell's Mortal Acts, Mortal Words
(summary)
In the following essay, Goldensohn reviews Mortal Acts, Mortal Words considering its themes and their connections to Kinnell's previous work and the larger context of American poetry.
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‘One and Zero Walk Off Together’: Dualism in Galway Kinnell's The Book of Nightmares
(summary)
In the following essay, Hudgins explores the spiritual and psychological features of Kinnell's work.
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Speaking with Tongues of Memory
(summary)
In the following essay, David Lee Garrison examines the thematic motifs in Galway Kinnell's work, particularly in "The Past," highlighting Kinnell's contributions to American poetry through his integration of memory, nature, and existential reflection while drawing parallels with poets like Whitman, Frost, and Williams.
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Galway Kinnell's Poetry of Transformation
(summary)
In the following essay, Kleinbard considers Kinnell's thematic and visionary concerns, comparing them to those of other poets, most notably Rainer Maria Rilke.
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Technology versus Technique: The Fundamental Project of Galway Kinnell's Recent Poetry
(summary)
In the following essay, Schenker argues that Kinnell's poetics present a “post-Darwinian” view of human civilization's relationship to nature.
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Galway Kinnell's ‘The Last River’: A Civil Rights Odyssey
(summary)
In the following essay, Daniel Schenker examines Galway Kinnell's poem "The Last River" as a significant exception to the general silence of white American poets on civil rights issues, exploring how the poem reflects Kinnell's personal experiences and the political consciousness of his generation with themes of racial justice and personal complicity.
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Stanzas Spun from Inspiration
(summary)
In the following essay, Elizabeth Lund examines Galway Kinnell's Imperfect Thirst, noting his continued exploration of themes like mortality and life's fragility, while critiquing the collection's less polished style compared to his previous works, yet acknowledging its appeal to readers seeking depth without overt simplicity.
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Galway Kinnell: A Voice to Lead Us
(summary)
In the following essay, Maceira considers Kinnell's work up to Imperfect Thirst and assesses his development as a significant poetic voice.
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An Interview with Galway Kinnell
(summary)
- Kinnell, Galway (Vol. 1)
- Kinnell, Galway (Vol. 2)
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Kinnell, Galway (Vol. 29)
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A Reading of Galway Kinnell
(summary)
In the following essay, Ralph J. Mills, Jr. analyzes Galway Kinnell's poetry, highlighting how it reflects a shift from the contrived styles of the 1950s to the sincere and personal exploration of self and society in the 1960s, emphasizing Kinnell's unique ability to draw profound significance from personal experiences.
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Devices Among Words: Kinnell, Bly, Simic
(summary)
In the following essay, Geoffrey Thurley critiques Galway Kinnell's poetry for lacking a genuine creative voice and deeper spiritual orientation, arguing that while technically proficient, Kinnell's work fails to evoke the profound emotional engagement seen in predecessors like Ginsberg, ultimately reflecting broader deficiencies in contemporary American poetry.
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Kinnell's 'Walking Down the Stairs'
(summary)
In the following essay, Susan B. Weston explores Galway Kinnell's integration of poetry with life in "Walking Down the Stairs," arguing that his inclusive approach and commitment to relations reflect a healthy, visceral poetry that embraces the human condition with all its horrors and joys, while drawing influence from poets like Yeats, Whitman, and Rilke.
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'The Rank Flavor of Blood': The Poetry of Galway Kinnell
(summary)
In the following essay, Charles Molesworth examines Galway Kinnell's poetry from the 1960s, highlighting Kinnell's shift from modernist irony to a postmodernist aesthetic characterized by a deep engagement with nature, mortality, and the physical world, while noting Kinnell's unique synthesis of self-discovery and self-destruction within his work.
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Dimensions of Reality
(summary)
In the following essay, Peter Stitt examines Galway Kinnell's Mortal Acts, Mortal Words, noting a shift from the poet's former seriousness to a more relaxed tone, exploring themes of love for the natural world, family, and friendship, despite some less successful abstract poems towards the book's end.
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Straight Forth Out of Self
(summary)
In the following essay, Harold Bloom critiques Galway Kinnell's poetry, acknowledging his emotional directness and descriptive prowess while questioning whether his work has fulfilled its early promise, suggesting his latest collection, "Mortal Acts, Mortal Words," lacks the discipline of his strongest poems, despite its beautiful lyrical meditations.
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Recent Poetry: Five Poets
(summary)
In the following essay, Stephen Yenser discusses Galway Kinnell's poetry, particularly his progression from "The Book of Nightmares" to "Mortal Acts, Mortal Words," emphasizing how Kinnell's exploration of the interconnectedness of suffering and song, and his broader perspective on mortality enriches his work and American literature as a whole.
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Take but Degree Away
(summary)
In the following essay, Vernon Shetley critiques Galway Kinnell's work for its lack of imaginative energy and over-reliance on rhetoric, arguing that while Kinnell addresses significant themes in poetry, his resolutions often fall short, resulting in a sense of hollowness despite the familiar emotions he seeks to renew.
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Where We Might Meet Each Other: An Appreciation of Galway Kinnell and William Everson
(summary)
In the following essay, Joe Marusiak explores how Galway Kinnell's poetry captures the essence of human experience, focusing on themes of individual struggle, existential questions, and the intertwining of personal and geographical landscapes, while examining his religious and philosophical insights through metaphors of isolation and transcendence.
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Intact and Triumphant
(summary)
In the following essay, Morris Dickstein evaluates Galway Kinnell's career, highlighting how Kinnell's transformation from formalism to a profound, personal style in works like "The Book of Nightmares" and "Mortal Acts, Mortal Words" established him as a significant voice in contemporary poetry, capturing themes of mortality and human presence.
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Selected Poems
(summary)
In the following essay, Richard Tillinghast argues that Galway Kinnell's poetry is distinguished by its "burly" masculinity, emotional depth, and musicality, while also acknowledging occasional lapses into prosiness, positioning him as one of America's foremost poets, able to address timeless themes with a visionary social critique.
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A Reading of Galway Kinnell
(summary)
- Kinnell, Galway (Vol. 3)
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Kinnell, Galway (Vol. 13)
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Richmond Lattimore
(summary)
In the following essay, Richmond Lattimore critiques Galway Kinnell's The Book of Nightmares for its lack of structural shape and overuse of grotesque themes, noting that while occasionally impressive, the work ultimately fails to evoke genuine emotional engagement.
- John Hobbs
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Vernon Young
(summary)
In the following essay, Vernon Young explores the diverse transformations in Galway Kinnell's poetry, emphasizing his ability to authentically capture varied voices and landscapes, from cityscapes to nature, while maintaining a recurring theme of death and resurrection throughout his work.
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Jerome McGann
(summary)
In the following essay, Jerome McGann examines Galway Kinnell's poetry, which explores themes of rebirth in desolation, the coexistence of life and death, and the paradox of human existence, portraying Kinnell as a poetic extremist whose work is characterized by profound imagination and a relentless pursuit of existential truths.
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J. T. Ledbetter
(summary)
In the following essay, J. T. Ledbetter argues that Galway Kinnell's poem "The Bear" can be interpreted both as a narrative of a hunter or shaman's experience and as an allegory for the poetic process, highlighting themes of creation, transcendence, and the elusive nature of artistic inspiration.
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Alan Helms
(summary)
In the following essay, Alan Helms critiques Galway Kinnell's poetry, particularly "The Book of Nightmares," as an uneven but occasionally excellent exploration of existential suffering, blending compelling images of death and despair with moments of muddled metaphysics and unoriginal imitations of other poets.
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Galway Kinnell's 'The Book of Nightmares'
(summary)
In the following essay, Robert Langbaum argues that Galway Kinnell's The Book of Nightmares is a major work of contemporary poetry, distinguished by its intense exploration of human existence through nature imagery, its fusion of the spiritual and the corporeal, and its ambitious scope, despite occasional lapses in intensity.
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Richmond Lattimore
(summary)
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Kinnell, Galway
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What a Kingdom It Was
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Kinnell's first book of verse is commended for its direct, colloquial language unfettered by contemporary influences. Galway Kinnell's first book of poems, What a Kingdom It Was, is remarkably unburdened by this or that current influence. Kinnell is direct and occasionally harsh, and he keeps his syntax straight and his tone colloquial. His chief concern, we soon discover, is the enigmatic significance, more than the open appearance, of Nature and man. 'Freedom, New Hampshire,' an elegy for his brother—a full realization of country boyhood, in ordinary terms, with a boy's confrontation of cruelty and unreasonable happiness left intact—is also an affirmation of immortality. Kinnell's longest and most pretentiously titled poem, 'The Avenue Bearing the Initial of Christ Into the New World,' deals with a most difficult subject—life in a city slum. Here pitfalls abound—sentimentality, insincerity, the possibility of mixed and unresolved feelings of pity and guilt. Kinnell bypasses all these. City streets are for a time his home; he feels the vitality of their people; he responds with extreme sensitiveness to multiple sights, sounds, smells; without any furtive condescension, he places Avenue C in the human context. Sympathy, identification, insight sustain this long poem in every detail, and Kinnell chooses his details with startling exactness.
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Galway Kinnell: Moments of Transcendence
(summary)
In the following essay, a brief biography of Kinnell followed by an appraisal of his early work is presented.
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Body Rags
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Benedikt notes a radical shift in Kinnell's work that moves from a preoccupation with urban life toward that which was to become a hallmark of the poet's verse, a celebration of nature.
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Galway Kinnell with The Ohio Review
(summary)
In the following interview, Galway Kinnell reflects on the influence of Yeats and Rilke on his work, discusses the structural and thematic elements of his long poem "The Book of Nightmares," and considers the role of narrative in poetry, emphasizing a progression of consciousness rather than chronological events.
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The Structure of Galway Kinnell's The Book of Nightmares
(summary)
In the following essay, mythology as well as Kinnell's own comments on the poem's structure aid Hilberry in analyzing The Book of Nightmares.
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Al Poulin, Jr., and Stan Samuel Rubin (interview date 1976)
(summary)
In the following interview, the critic explores Galway Kinnell's reflections on his poetic inspirations and creative processes, examining themes of personal experience, transcendence, death, and the evolution of his work from What a Kingdom It Was to The Book of Nightmares, highlighting Kinnell's pursuit of universality and organic form in his poetry.
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Kinnell, Galway
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Bell relates his intimate knowledge of his former student's career, up to and including The Book of Nightmares.
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Mortal Acts, Mortal Words
(summary)
In the following review, Lazer praises as having "lighter" and "looser" poems than the much-acclaimed, unified work that preceded it, The Book of Nightmares.
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Selected Poems
(summary)
In the following essay, Charles Molesworth hails Galway Kinnell's Selected Poems as a significant reflection of a major shift in postwar poetry, characterized by a movement towards a language of empathy and celebration, drawing on influences like Rilke and Whitman, and balancing themes of emptiness and embrace.
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Galway Kinnell Searches for Innocence
(summary)
In the following essay, Beckman gives an overview of Kinnell's career in light of his having received the Pulitzer Prize for Selected Poems.
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'One and Zero Walk Off Together': Dualism in Galway Kinnell's The Book of Nightmares
(summary)
In the following essay, Hudgins notes that a dualistic stance toward death—both the rational perception of our own extinction as well as our mystical union with the universe after death—is traced through The Book of Nightmares.
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Refuge in the Library, on the Farm and in Memories
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Beaver praises The Past for its moments of 'absorbed attention,' Kinnell's ability to affix the present into the past and vice versa.
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A review of The Past
(summary)
In the following excerpt reviewing The Past, Pettingell highlights Kinnell's 'biological perception of the world'.
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From Irony to Lyricism: Galway Kinnell's True Voice
(summary)
In the following essay, Taylor traces Kinnell's poetic evolution, from a Christian theology to a sacramentalism that elevates numinous moments.
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The Poetic Milieu of Galway Kinnell: From Modernism to Postmodernism and Neoromanticism
(summary)
In the following essay, Calhoun places Kinnell is placed among his predecessors and contemporaries as well as his poetic influences.
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The Past and Other Works
(summary)
Calhoun's explication of the poems in When One Has Lived a Long Time Alone follows in this excerpt. In Galway Kinnell's tenth major book of poetry, When One Has Lived a Long Time Alone, which appeared in late 1990 from a new publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, he confronts his own solitariness from other people, including family, and ultimately that terminal loneliness, his own mortality. A key line in the volume might well be 'everything sings and dies,' but it could also be 'everything dies and sings,' the decisive perception from 'Flower of Five Blossoms.' Dying is a characteristic humankind share with other creatures, but singing is a resource that the poet finds in people. In these poems Kinnell writes of loss, separation, death, aloneness after the breakup of the family he has celebrated in the antecedent poems. His trademark, the long poem, appears; but he also shows his ability to complete and master the short poem.
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Poetry Roundup: Imperfect Thirst
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Disch calls Imperfect Thirst Kinnell's 'comfy' poetry.
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Galway Kinnell: A Voice to Lead Us
(summary)
In the following essay, Kinnell's career is surveyed in light of the publication of Imperfect Thirst. The publication of Galway Kinnell's latest book provides an opportunity to review the career of a poet who may turn out to be one of those voices. Kinnell has embraced the contemporary existential view of life with grace and affirmation, making a shift from theistic to secular frameworks while weaving the sacred into everyday life. His major achievement is teaching that the material self can survive and flourish through human love and the knowledge of death, alongside his formal contributions to American poetry.
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What a Kingdom It Was
(summary)
- Further Reading