SOURCE: "May Swenson, a Humorous Poet of Cerebral Verse, Is Dead at 76," in The New York Times, December 5, 1989, p. D24.

In the following obituary, Bernstein surveys Swenson's life and career.

May Swenson, a poet known for her cerebral, playful verse, and a recipient two years ago of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, died yesterday in Ocean View, Del. She was 76 years old and had been suffering from chronic asthma.

Miss Swenson, who came to New York half a century ago from her birthplace, Logan, Utah, published her first collection of poems, Another Animal, in 1954. That book led the critic John Ciardi to declare: "May Swenson is not a promise, but a fact. She has daring, a true feeling for the structure of the whole poem, precision of phrase, and a magic eye for the exact image."

In all, Miss Swenson published nine volumes of poems, many of which first...