Kelly is a prominent contemporary American poet who has an excellent reputation in the critical community. She has received numerous awards since her first collection, To the Place of Trumpets, won the prestigious Yale Series of Younger Poets competition. She has also been published in Best American Poetry and has received several generous fellowships. Perhaps the most influential critic to praise her early work was James Merrill, a well-known poet who selected Kelly's first work for publication. Kelly's work has since received favorable reviews in periodicals such as Library Journal, Cross Currents, Southern Review, and Booklist.

Critics tend to highlight Kelly's commentary on religion and her musicality of verse in their reviews of her three collections. Stephen Yenser comments in the Yale Review, "The religious imagination is part and parcel of Kelly's work," and other critics have discussed Kelly's talent for creating songlike verse. Most of...