Proper Clay By Mark Van Doren You need an active subscription to view this contentYou should really subscribe now!Or login if you already have a subscription. Share — Issue: Autumn 1936 / Volume 12/4 Published: March 30, 2010 Mark Van Doren Mark Van Doren (1894 –1972) was an influential literary critic, poet, and scholar who taught at Columbia University for almost four decades. He was literary editor of The Nation, and he won the Pulitzer Prize for Collected Poems 1922–1938.