SOURCE: Kirby, David. “And Then I Thought of the Monument.” In Mark Strand and the Poet's Place in Contemporary Culture, pp. 27-57. Columbia, Mo.: University of Missouri Press, 1990.

In the following excerpt, Kirby examines Strand's 1973 collection, The Story of Our Lives and the 1978 collection, The Monument. Kirby comments that the first is characterized by a marked change in style from the poetry of Strand's earlier volumes, and the second by a highly original combination of poetry and prose.

Gi; the Story of Our Lives (1973) =~ Sthe Story of Our Lives (1973)

Mark Strand is a cautious poet yet an academic as well. His caution does not seem suited to the publish-or-perish world of the academy, to the carrot-and-stick atmosphere in which a writer's achievement is summed up in a yearly listing of professional accomplishments. Sleeping with One Eye Open, Reasons for Moving, and Darker deal with perhaps the most important...