Freely Espousing is [James Schuyler's] first major collection of poems. Coming upon a mature body of work without much prior warning is always a perplexing experience requiring an effort of accommodation, but in Schuyler's case this effort is amply rewarded, for not only is Freely Espousing a collection of extremely good poems, but it also embodies the sort of vision that periodically reawakens us to the infinite range of possibilities open to the poet. Schuyler's most visible concern is not with linguistic innovation and the reader does not have to penetrate a difficult surface—indeed the first effect is almost the reverse, for the poems are disarmingly open…. (p. 54)

The actual range of his subject-matter is not broad (though it is certainly inclusive within its range), and consists mostly of casually approached pastoral details, though urban and domestic scenes crop up frequently. But one feels afterwards that Schuyler...