Where most postmodern poets are content to render dramatic instances of the mind satisfied in process, Duncan has grander ambitions. His aim is to reinterpret the aesthetics of presence in terms that can recover the contemporary significance of the Romance and hermetic imaginative traditions…. [Duncan] conceives myth as a [highly] abstract and philosophical venture. The mythic poet, he argues, cannot simply be open to the present; "he must reflect himself upon that which he is a reflection of." Thus the poet must take on the difficult task of making poetry of reflective thought and the emotions it can create. (pp. 150-51)

When critics notice [Duncan] at all, they comment on his weaknesses as a lyric poet, for his verse is often diffuse, boring, and without vitality in language or imagery. Moreover, like Olson, his work is often difficult and apparently remote from contemporary concerns because his mythic enterprise...