had been diminished. The two countries that
were left in the strongest positions were the
United States and the Soviet Union, which
were run under opposing political ideologies:
The Soviet Union, which came into existence in
1917, practiced and supported the spread of
communism, while the United States was a
democracy with a capitalistic economic struc-
ture. Though both countries were allies during
the war, they disagreed immediately after about
the political structure Europe was to have.
What followed for both nations were deca-
des of suspicion, hostility, and covert operations
aimed at undermining each other’s power. The
two sides often gave support to opposing fac-
tions in smaller countries, as in the Korean War
and the Vietnam War, rather than instigating
direct U.S.-Soviet combat. Though crises often
threatened to bring about direct fighting, such as
with the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, tensions
were always calmed through diplomacy. The
cold war managed to remain an abstract, theo-
retical war through the collapse and dissolution
of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Critical Overview.
When it was first published in 1959, ‘‘Heart’s
Needle’’ was viewed as a groundbreaking work,
setting the tone for a generation of poetry. The
book that bears the poem’s title won the Pulitzer
Prize for Poetry the year that it was released, as
well as the Guinness Award in England the fol-
lowing year. Although some critics characterized
the poet’s style as being too academic, these critics
were themselves often dismissed as being too infa-
tuated with the antiestablishment aesthetics of the
Beat generation. M. L. Rosenthal, the critic who
coined the term ‘‘confessional poetry’’ (the style
that Snodgrass was to become most closely asso-
ciated with), reviewed Heart’s Needle in the
Nationin 1959. In his review, Rosenthal speaks
of the power of the title poem: ‘‘The undramatic
misery of the troubled father anxious to create
common memories...has great authority.’’
Rosenthal adds that Snodgrass gains this author-
ity ‘‘through a gift of understatement that is yet
saturated with feeling.’’ Later in his review, the
critic states that ‘‘the poem remains true to its
germinating feeling of quiet suffering, and to its
author’s special talents.’’
As the years passed, Snodgrass’s reputation
as a major poet did not persist. Nothing that he
has written since his first volume has made such
an impact on the literary world. By the 1990s, the
release of a new collection was not met with
enthusiasm. This can be seen in William Pratt’s
review inWorld Literature Todayof Snodgrass’s
1994 collectionEach in His Season. ‘‘Sadly,’’
Pratt remarks, ‘‘Snodgrass is a poet who found
his voice early but who has not been able to
sustain it into his later years.’’COMPARE
&
CONTRAST 1950s:In the event of a divorce, the custody
of any children is almost automatically
granted to the mother.
Today:Courts take many factors into con-
sideration in determining which of two
divorced parents should have primary
custody.
1950s:A parent living across the country
from his child has to rely upon letters and
expensive long-distance phone calls to keep
in touch.Today:Written messages and photos can be
sent instantly by e-mail or can be posted to
Web pages. Most cell phones have plans that
include unlimited long-distance calls.
1950s:The United States is in competition
with the Soviet Union. People live in fear
that nuclear war might erupt at any moment,
destroying whole civilizations.
Today:The fear of nuclear war is less imme-
diate than the fear of terrorist attacks.Heart’s Needle