They had a likeness to loving because they did not measure. It will delight or madden, according to the reader's mood-if approached on the heels of the rest of the book, as it should be, it will delight. This book shatters stereotypes equating the study of prosody with poetry boot camp and instead introduces the fine art of versification. In clear bell tones that are this master poet's rhythmic signature, nuances of rhyme, rhythm, and meter are conveyed in precise, tactile language sensitive to history and etymology. Usually dry definitions are transformed into subtle image schemes that work as superior mnemonic devices.
Corn compares the composition of lines to weaving a thread slowly from left to right.
Metrical variations, usually muddled through by most texts, here receive their own lucid chapter that thoroughly prepares the poet for progressively more complex sections. Schuyler's poetry digs to the core of daily living in order to transcend it so convincingly. Raw material galore-biography, memory, backstory. We know the routine already, but this time we're standing backstage. Lucky for us.