SOURCE: “Out of Memory,” in Poetry, Vol. XLIX, No. II, November, 1936, pp. 97-8.

In the following review of The Old House in the Country, Bogan argues that despite the limited and repetitive subject matter, Reese's poetry is appealing because of its simplicity and poignance.

Lizette Woodworth Reese's first book of poems, A Branch of May, was printed privately and parochially in Baltimore in 1887. Her beautiful long poem, Little Henrietta, appeared forty years later, in 1927. The Old House in the Country was written in 1913, and is given to us, according to Hervey Allen who writes a preface for it, in a more or less unrevised form. Miss Reese's later lyrics appeared a few years ago in the volume, Pastures, and this older and not particularly distinguished longer effort will, no doubt, be the only volume of her posthumously published poetry.

The ingredients of Miss Reese's poetry never varied. Throughout...