During her lifetime, McGinley received great popular acclaim, being one of the few poets in the twentieth century to find a place on the New York Times best-seller list. She also received the praise of many contemporary poets, such as W. H. Auden, who wrote the introduction to Times Three. During the last decades of the twentieth century, however, McGinley's work has received little attention although she is still included in several anthologies. This is in part because light verse has traditionally failed to receive serious critical analysis. In addition, humorous verse is no longer as popular with readers as it was during the first half of the century. Finally, because much of McGinley's humor is topical, many specific details in her work are dated. This is true even in "Reactionary Essay on Applied Science."

Linda Welshimer Wagner's Phyllis McGinley is the only book-length study on...