Charles Tomlinson has made the inquiry into craft almost the major subject of his poetry. His is an extremely self-conscious quest, yet, for all that, he has produced some finely achieved poems in his first three collections.

Before discussing what I believe to be Tomlinson's most important collection to date, The Way of a World, I want to share misgivings I had about his poetry, if only to shed a number of them now.

After reading and rereading The Necklace, Seeing is Believing, A Peopled Landscape, and American Scenes and Other Poems, one could be in no doubt about Tomlinson's accomplishment. The early, rather ornate, over-wordy poems had been replaced by poems which showed a rigorous and critical feeling for language. The careful study of a wide range of American poets is obvious enough. So is the influence of American landscape. Tomlinson is one of the few visiting...