Diligent, strong and good are surely the epithets which attach to Robert Creeley's aspiring character …, for this poet shows, in his poetry at least, none of the distractions pressed upon him by the tendentious praise of both Leslie Fiedler and Hugh Kenner …, by the imprimatur of William Carlos Williams and the impertinence of John Simon …, and most distracting of all, by the clamorous mimicry of his juniors…. (pp. 143-44)

[Immensely out in the open now] Creeley yet continues to explore his own function—or his failure to function—as a poet with a splendid unconcern for external relations, preferring to harbor his most freakish and obvious faults quite as if they were his most original and valuable impulses (and perhaps they are—in any case they are indistinguishable from his virtues in the ultimate effect of his work …). So consistent, indeed, with themselves, so characteristic and even queer...