SOURCE: "May Swenson," in The Electric Life: Essays on Modern Poetry, William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1989, pp. 197-215.

In the following essay taken from his volume, The Electric Life, Birkerts explores Swenson's progression during her career from an emphasis on presenting detached, technically adroit poems treating outside objects to an emphasis on more introspective poems expressing an inner voice and treating themes such as the role of the self in the scheme of life. Birkerts concludes by asserting his contention that Swenson did not always utilize her full capacity as a writer in her poetry.

Reverse chronology appears to be enjoying a vogue among publishers of collections of poetry. I can't see the logic of it myself. If the poet in question has improved over the years, shedding bad habits, widening the reach, then we are apt to get increasingly demoralized as we turn the pages. If, on...