I don't know what it does for me. It has a clarity and scope that only seems surpassed by some Wallace Steven's poems, as far as modernists go. Something about it is surreal, but it isn't the more superficial surreal of nonsense poetry. It's even more subtle that Neruda's surreal poetry. Which is what allows for the clarity and scope. I don't know. It's hard to explain.
And I guess I appreciate that it provides some insight into the man-nature relationship, a theme that, in poetry, hasn't yielded much new since Thoreau and, after this poem, Wendell Berry.
It was published in the Beloit Poetry Journal (they have a huge online archive, it's wonderful) in the spring of 1952, which is early. It's very different from the poetry she became famous for, but it's just as good, if not better.
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what does it do for you?
which period of Rich is this?
I've only read her recent, "Dark Nights of the Republic"
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And I guess I appreciate that it provides some insight into the man-nature relationship, a theme that, in poetry, hasn't yielded much new since Thoreau and, after this poem, Wendell Berry.
It was published in the Beloit Poetry Journal (they have a huge online archive, it's wonderful) in the spring of 1952, which is early. It's very different from the poetry she became famous for, but it's just as good, if not better.
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