What is most striking about the collected poems of E.M. Schorb is their subtle musicality and intellectual range. They demonstrate that Mr Schorb is a poet of great skill and keen wit. His work hearkens back to the great poems of the first half of the twentieth century, to the masterpieces of Robert Frost, John Crowe Ransom, Wallace Stevens, W.H. Auden and William Dickey. They bespeak the presence of a major American poet, one whose mastery of forms is unparalleled and whose voice is resonant, passionate and true long after his book is returned to the shelf.