SOURCE: "News of the Root," in A Kind of Order, a Kind of Folly: Essays and Conversations, Little, Brown and Company, 1975, pp. 83-6.

An American poet and critic, Kunitz won the Pulitzer Prize in 1959 for his Selected Poems, 1928-1958. His work is skillfully crafted, incorporating rhythms of natural speech, and evidencing a fine ear for the musical cadence of phrases. Often considered metaphysical, his poetry is intensely personal, exploring the mystery of self and the intricacies of time. In the following review, which originally appeared in Poetry in 1949, Kunitz enthusiastically endorses Roethke's poetic style in The Lost Son, and Other Poems, finding that "The ferocity of Roethke's imagination makes most contemporary poetry seem pale and tepid in contrast. "

With The Lost Son, Theodore Roethke confirms what some of us have long suspected: that he stands among the original and powerful contemporary poets. In this remarkable collection he undertakes...