Pulitzer Prize Poetry Winner
Near Changes
by Mona Van Duyn
Summary
These poems linger over long marriage, illness, gardens, and the small renegotiations of a settled life. Van Duyn writes in flexible, often near-formal lines whose plainspoken surface rewards careful pressure, finding metaphysical resonance in ordinary domestic situations. The book treats Midwestern middle-class experience as worthy material for serious meditative verse.
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Historical Context & Significance
Van Duyn was the first woman to serve as Poet Laureate and was celebrated for making "the ordinary" feel epic.