AUTHOR'S NOTE: Although I've been striving to give my Articles of the Day a certain “grab-bag” theme, I will need to move briefly into the realm of poetry from time to time (if only to give outsiders a brief, occasional lesson about why it's awesome).
This majorly influential 20th Century poet turned heads for his brilliant depictions of nature. war, love and language. He is notable for the blend he has managed between popularity among readers and acclaim among critics (although both of these groups overlap VERY frequently, with each other and with the poets themselves). When I first read Kinnell, his depictions of natural beauty and harmony (or disharmony) in rural New England made him seem like a free verse Robert Frost. As it turns out, he's much more than that; his most memorable pieces came later in his career, and deal primarily with war (The Fundamental Project of Technology) and familial affection/sex/life (After Making Love We Hear Footsteps).
Highlights:
-His experiences protesting the Vietnam War in the 1960's are chronicled in a book-length poem entitled The Book of Nightmares.
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