SOURCE: "The Arc of a New Covenant: The Idea of the Reader in A. R. Ammons' Poems," in Pembroke Magazine, No. 18, 1986, pp. 86-103.

Allen is an American educator, poet, and critic. In the following essay, he asserts that Ammons's poetry constantly challenges the traditional conception of poetry, as well as the standard roles of the poet and reader.

Most writers cultivate their ability to satisfy expectations. A. R. Ammons is a notable exception. Through his defiance, he hopes to make us question the assumptions behind—our ideal of Good Poetry and to join with him in creating new, provisionally more satisfying standards. Then, in the next poem, or in the next book of poems, the process of denial and revision begins afresh: or, as Ammons succinctly puts the matter at the end of "Corsons Inlet," "tomorrow a new walk is a new walk."

Ammons on his constant interest...