Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

James Schuyler's "Freely Espousing" is a poem that revels in the freedom of association, the unpredictability of thought, and the playful use of language. The title itself suggests a willingness to embrace ideas, images, and sensations without being tethered to a strict narrative or thematic structure. The poem is a collage of observations, reflections, and whimsical musings, creating a tapestry of moments that invite the reader to engage with the world in a similarly free-spirited manner.

The poem opens with a "commingling sky" and a "semi-tropic night," setting a scene that is both lush and atmospheric. The "easily torn, untrembling banana leaf" introduces a sense of fragility and impermanence, qualities that will permeate the poem as it moves through various images and ideas. Schuyler juxtaposes the natural beauty of this tropical setting with a sudden, jarring reference to "Quebec! what a horrible city," immediately followed by the rhetorical question "so Steubenville is better?" This abrupt shift in tone and location reflects the poem's refusal to settle into a single mood or perspective. Instead, it delights in the contrasts and contradictions that make up the fabric of everyday life.

The poem continues with a series of disparate images and reflections: the sinking sensation of drowning, the profit of excavating a battlefield, the "sinuous beauty of words like allergy." Schuyler's language is both precise and evocative, capturing the strangeness and beauty of the mundane. The mention of "pill when used as in 'she is a pill'" highlights the poet's fascination with the sound and meaning of words, their ability to evoke both concrete images and abstract sensations. This playfulness with language is further emphasized in the poem's rejection of "short stories in which lawn mowers clack" and the insistence that "it is absolutely forbidden for words to echo the act described; or try to."

Schuyler's rejection of onomatopoeia—except in specific instances like "bong" and "tickle"—reflects his desire to keep language fresh and surprising. The poem resists easy categorization, instead embracing a fluid, open-ended approach to meaning. This openness is mirrored in the "marriages of the atmosphere" that Schuyler celebrates, such as the way "Tudor City catches the sky" or how "the glass side of a building lit up at night in fog" becomes a "gold-green tetrahedron down the river." These images suggest a world in which the boundaries between the natural and the man-made, the real and the imagined, are blurred, creating new possibilities for perception and understanding.

As the poem progresses, Schuyler continues to blend the ordinary with the extraordinary, the tangible with the ephemeral. The "bales of pink cotton candy in the slanting light" are revealed to be "ornamental cherry trees," while the surrounding "greens" and "browns" of the park are transformed into a serene, almost dreamlike landscape. The poem's final lines—"Their scallop shell of quiet is the S.S. United States. It is not so quiet and they are a medium-size couple who when they fold each other up well, thrill. That’s their story"—bring the reader back to the human, the intimate, and the personal. Here, the poem closes on a note of understated affection, a recognition of the quiet thrills and small stories that make up the fabric of everyday life.

"Freely Espousing" is a celebration of the richness and complexity of experience, a poem that invites the reader to embrace the world in all its contradictions and surprises. Schuyler's language is playful and precise, his images vivid and evocative. The poem refuses to be pinned down by any single interpretation or theme, instead offering a kaleidoscope of moments that reflect the poet's deep engagement with the world around him. In this way, "Freely Espousing" embodies the spirit of exploration and openness that characterizes Schuyler's work, inviting the reader to join him in a journey of discovery and delight.

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