TO SEE, TO TAKE

by Mona Van Duyn ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 24, 1969

Eloquent and articulate verse about the trivia of everyday life and emotion is not very engaging in our cataclysmic world. Miss Van Duyn takes herself too seriously -- that is to say she fails, to convince us that her feelings and insights are worth our attention. Her diction is imaginative and her loose, rambling syntax controlled and fluent except when she imprisons it in perfunctory. and perhaps soporific iambs. Her language is Certainly accurate and vivid and her narrative skill undeniable. But the approach is conventional for the most part and it is hard to respond to the banality of her subject matter. A pity, because she writes with a sustained energy. But then again, some readers prefer lucid and obvious statements of the familiar.

Pub Date: Feb. 24, 1969

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1969

Categories: NONFICTION