SOURCE: Holland, Robert. “Six or Seven Fools.” Poetry 129, no. 5 (February 1977): 285-95.

In the following excerpt, Holland reviews Separations, praising the poet's technique but criticizing the overall dreariness and pessimism of her verses.

Marilyn Hacker's clowning does not seem to have been spoiled by success. Her first book, Presentation Piece (1974), not only won the Lamont Poetry Prize, but went on to take the National Book Award as well. Yet Hacker has obviously not settled back content with that. Although there are still a few poems which betray her apprenticeship, sounding like exercises or baring influences, Hacker extends her technical mastery and increases her self-confidence measurably in Separations. Spinning out sonnets, sestinas, villanelles, canzones, couplets, fixed and free forms, lyrics and narratives in generous portions, she displays an impressive virtuosity and vitality of language.

All of this technical skill is in the service of a dark, somewhat sordid urban vision...