SOURCE: A review of Body Rags, in Poetry, Vol. CXIII, No. 3, pp. 188-91.

In the following excerpt, Benedikt notes a radical shift in Kinnell's work that moves from a preoccupation with urban life toward that which was to become a hallmark of the poet's verse, a celebration of nature.

… In his third book, Body Rags, Galway Kinnell has effected one of the most radical transformations of both matter and manner we have. His first two collections, with their perturbed pictures of the junk-ridden modern city, and their relatively straightforward presentations of the landscape, seemed to recommend withdrawal from the urban syndrome in favor of nature. Now, we feel the breadth of his interpretation of the natural ideal. "Night in the Forest" is about an overnight camping trip, but one would hardly locate conservationism at the core of its concern:

 A woman
sleeps next to me on the earth...