"The City Limits" is one of A. R. Ammons's most famous poems. It came at the time in Ammons's life when he was first enjoying wide critical praise. The book that it first appeared in, Briefings: Poems Small and Easy, is considered one of his best, showing off his vast intellectual understanding of the natural world and his sharp poetic sensibilities. It was then included in Collected Poems, 1951- 1971, which reached a wide audience after winning the National Book Award. Geoffrey Hartman announces at the beginning of his review of the book for the New York Times Book Review that "with these Collected Poems a lag in reputation is overcome. A. R. Ammons's 400 pages of poetry, written over the space of a generation, manifest an energy, wit and an amazing compounding of mind with nature that cannot be overlooked." "The City Limits" is one of Ammons's...