The Testing Tree: Poems

by Stanley Kunitz

Stanley Kunitz has received numerous awards for his poetry, including the Pulitzer Prize for "Selected Poems 1928-1958," the Brandeis Medal of Achievement, the Harriet Monroe Award, and "Poetry's" Levinson Prize. He is editor of the "Yale Series of Younger Poets" and of "Twentieth Century Authors," and is known for his teaching of poetry at such institutions as Columbia, the New School, Yale, Brandeis, and Bennington.

Genres: Poetry

67 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Stanley Jasspon Kunitz was an American poet. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress twice, first in 1974 and then again in 2000.

Reviews

[Abigail Holt]

'In a murderous time,
the heart breaks and breaks,
and lives by breaking.'

-Kunitz writes beautifully.

[Humphrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one sat half finished for a while because the first half didn't have much traction for me. "Journal for My Daughter" read self-indulgent to me. I'm not sure that the title poem succeeds as a piece, but it has some excellent lines in its climax. "King of the River" was very good, and I also liked "The Mulch."

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read him because Louise Gluck said she taught her some in the beginning. Don't really get him, but it wasn't a horrible book either.