SOURCE: Lockett, Andrea. “Strange Monsters.” Belles Lettres 9, no. 3 (spring 1994): 37.

In the following review, Lockett delineates the defining characteristics of Sarton's verse in her Collected Poems (1930-1993).

Even the most devout reader of May Sarton's work may be relatively unfamiliar with her poetry. But Sarton, who has published 16 volumes of verse to date, considers herself a poet first and foremost. Thus, Collected Poems (1930-1993) is essential reading.

The earliest poems, five of which appeared in the prestigious Poetry magazine when Sarton was only 17, already display the excellent command of form and technique that define her work. But it is with the publication of later collections that we see the poet at her peak, penning such classics as “Prisoner at a Desk,” “Now I Become Myself,” “In Time Like Air” (the collection of the same name received a National Book Award nomination), and “My Sisters, O My Sisters,” one of...