7:3 Fall-Winter 1953

GALWAY KINNELL

After the Death of a Nephew

“After the Death of a Nephew” is an early poem by Galway Kinnell. It appeared in the Fall-Winter 1953 issue, well before his first book, What a Kingdom It Was (1960). The poem’s meditation on the possibility of transcendence in the face of mortality anticipates a theme Kinnell will return to again and again over the course of his career; its loosely stanzaic form exemplifies his interest in finding musicality within the rhythms of the speaking voice. Kinnell would publish several other poems in Chicago Review, including his celebrated poem, “The Still Time,” in the Summer 1975 issue.

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