James Schuyler

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Three Poets

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James Schuyler's poetry, like Louis Simpson's, is close to prose, but it is far more playful. Whereas Mr. Simpson is almost puritanical in his desire to set down the truth devoid of ornament, Mr. Schuyler wants to be amused, and he wants his reader to be amused as well—an impulse that can result in preciosity. But "The Morning of the Poem" eventually disarmed me. It does have its moments of preciosity, when it takes the gee-whiz-isn't-it-all-amazing tone of Kenneth Koch at his worst….

But upon finishing the book, one does not remember these lapses so much as the consistent play of wit, sharp observation and brilliantly evocative language….

The title poem … is especially impressive and dominates the collection. It is cast in the form of a letter from the poet, visiting his mother in East Aurora, N.Y., to a painter in Manhattan—his friend and, one gathers, his lover. As the dustjacket blurb, for once articulate, suggests, this occasion allows him to juxtapose scenes of his rural childhood with the life of the city and to turn his verse letter into a verse autobiography as well. (p. 29)

If all Mr. Schuyler did was to string together images, the charm would soon wear off. Pound and Williams knew what they were doing when they keep their imagist poems short. But there is more to this poetry than images. Mr. Schuyler writes as if mindful of Frank O'Hara's statement that "the poem is at last between two persons instead of two pages." We have at least the illusion of coming to know the speaker of these poems and recognizing his presence in their characteristic preoccupations and stylistic traits.

In the title poem, we can piece together the poet's life in considerable detail…. His memories of childhood are not totally disheartening, for the poems are themselves evidence of their maker's joy in life. But there is, behind that joy, an abiding sadness.

Mr. Schuyler does not appear to regret his homosexuality; he writes of it with a commendable frankness, treating it as a human desire like any other. But his musings often lead, by a chain of associations, to nostalgia for lost love, lost friendships and lost youth, or to thoughts of death. In one of the shorter poems, "Trip," we are told of recurrent breakdowns and a pervasive "suicidalness."… The wit, playfulness and appetite for experience become tinged with pathos when we realize that they have more than once collapsed in despair. (pp. 29-30)

The James Schuyler of 11 years ago [when "Freely Espousing" was published] was already an accomplished poet, but a less engaging one than he has since become. The sharp imagery is present in abundance, but not the emotional depth and inclusivness that one finds in "The Morning of the Poem." (p. 30)

Paul Breslin, "Three Poets," in The New York Times Book Review (© 1980 by The New York Times Company; reprinted by permission), November 2, 1980, pp. 12, 28-30.∗

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