SOURCE: “The Poetry of Suburbia,” in Partisan Review, Vol. XXIII, No. 4, Fall, 1956, pp. 545-53.

In the following excerpt, Gregory praises Jennings for her unique and strong voice.

The recent Zeitgeist in American culture is of suburban colors, manners, dress. Those who are currently publishing verse are affected by its daily habits and ambitions, and more than a few have mistaken its presence for a visitation of the Muse. The importance of the suburban Zeitgeist may not be enduring, but since the end of the Korean War, its influence has spread cross-country from the suburbs of Boston to the state of Washington, far beyond the toll-gates of large cities; and it can be heard and seen as vividly on a college campus as in Westchester or nearby Long Island. It is nourished by the magazines I find in my dentist’s office: The New Yorker, Life, and Time. It...