Confessions of a Reluctant Optimist: Poems

by Phyllis McGinley

Book of poems by Phyllis McGinley.

Genres: Poetry

59 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

McGinley was educated at the University of Southern California and at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. After receiving her diploma in 1927, she taught for a year in Ogden and then at a junior high school in New Rochelle, New York. Once she had begun to establish a reputation for herself as a writer, McGinley gave up teaching and moved to New York City, where she held various jobs. She married Charles Hayden in 1937, and the couple moved to Larchmont, New York. The suburban landscape and culture of her new home was to provide the subject matter of much of McGinley's work.

McGinley was elected to the National Academy of Arts and Letters in 1955. She was the first writer to win the Pulitzer for her light verse collection, Times Three: Selected Verse from Three Decades with Seventy New Poems (1960).

In addition to poetry, McGinley wrote essays and children's books, as well as the lyrics for the 1948 musical revue Small Wonder.

Reviews

[Cheryl Licata · Rating 4 out of 5]

Phyllis McGinley's poems in this book are easily readable. They make me laugh, take me down Memory Lane and make me think. One of my favorites comes from the poem "Recipe for a Marriage".
The last line was written by me to personalize the poem, as the author's last line applied to herself.

"once we'd said a brave "I do"
And paid the parson's fee,
I set about reforming you
And you reforming me."

Until the final lightnings strike,
It's comfortable to know
Our faults we share and share alike
Ray Licata, my handsome beau."

This book is a keeper, to read and reread.

[Margaret Heninger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Relaxing and positive book of poetry. Reminiscent of childhood, where things were so simple and fun!

[Lea]

I picked this up after Jessica Fletcher mentioned the holiday version of poems in a recent Murder, She Wrote book. It’s definitely from another time, I can see the poems being for the every day.