i 

OSCILLATIONS OF THE ABSOLUTE: An Examination of the Implications 
of Wallace Stevens* '^Central Poetry" 

by 

Keith Darrel Eccleston 
B.A., The University of B r i t i s h Columbia, 1959 

A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF 
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF 

Master of Arts 

i n the Department 
of 

English 

We accept t h i s thesis as conforming to the 
required standard 

THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA 
September, 196k. 



. In p r e s e n t i n g t h i s t h e s i s i n p a r t i a l f u l f i l m e n t of 

the requirements f o r an advanced degree at the U n i v e r s i t y of 

B r i t i s h Columbia, I agree that the L i b r a r y s h a l l make i t f r e e l y 

a v a i l a b l e f o r reference and study* I f u r t h e r agree that per-

mission, f o r extensive copying of t h i s t h e s i s f o r s c h o l a r l y 

purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by 

h i s r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s . I t i s understood that, copying or p u b l i -

c a t i o n of t h i s t h e s i s f o r f i n a n c i a l gain s h a l l not be allowed 

without my w r i t t e n permission* 

Department of I b r i ^ l i s L 

The U n i v e r s i t y of B r i t i s h Columbia, 
Vancouver 8, Canada 

Date 



11 
ABSTRACT 

The Inadequacy of the image has ever been the b e s e t t i n g 
problem of i d e a l i s t e s t h e t i c s . The discrepancy between the 
absolute and the contingent, between the t h i n g , the idea of 
the t h i n g and the experience of the t h i n g provides common 
cause f o r the compositions of hermetic a r t . The b a s i c a f f i r -
mation of t h i s t h e s i s i s that the theory of Wallace Stevens 
o f f e r s a demonstrable s o l u t i o n t o the problem and that h i s 
r e l a t i o n a l use of images i n The C o l l e c t e d Poems overcomes 
the inadequacy of those images. 

In p r a c t i c e , however, t h i s t h e s i s i n v o l v e s the d e l i n e a -
t i o n of that s o l u t i o n l e s s than the d i a l e c t i c s necessary to 
determine i t s nature. Such a method i s d i c t a t e d by an i n i t i a l 
acceptance of d e l i b e r a t e obscuration as one of the formative 
p r i n c i p l e s of Stevens' e s t h e t i c . The i n t r o d u c t i o n to t h i s 
paper i s l i t t l e more than an examination of the causes and 
values of obscuration i n Stevens' prose and i n h i s poems and a 
defence of the method adopted h e r e i n to d e a l w i t h those values; 
i n i t , Stevens' poems are vievred as acts appropriate to the 
p r a c t i c a l process of transcendence - a process designed to 
a t t a i n , i n the words of the Athanasian Creed, "One, not by 
conversion of the Godhead i n t o f l e s h , but by t a k i n g of the 
manhood i n t o God." 

The t h e o r e t i c v a l i d i t y of transcendence as process becomes 
the onus proband! of "Part I " . I t c o n s t i t u t e s an attempt to 
appease apparent a m b i g i i i t i e s i n Stevens' theory of poetry -
a m b i g u i t i e s that have plagued c r i t i c s who would perceive i n h i s 
poems the p r i n c i p l e s of h i s theory - by determining the nature 



and i m p l i c a t i o n s of Stevens' concept of " c e n t r a l poetry." The 
source, nature, and mode of existence of that concept - used 
h e r e i n as generic name f o r Stevens' t o t a l theory - are charac-
t e r i z e d by the image of o s c i l l a t i o n s contained i n the t h e s i s 
t i t l e . B a s i c a l l y , the d i s c i p l i n e of the " c e n t r a l poet" i s 
analogous t o that i n v o l v e d i n the v i a a f f i r m a t i v a and v i a  
n e g a t i v a of r e l i g i o u s a r t , but the phrase ' o s c i l l a t i o n s of the 
absolute* more e a s i l y manifests the character of h i s symbols. 
The phrase describes both the movement of the mind from i n -
volvement i n the l i m i t a t i o n s of images and ideas to free con-
templation and the nature of the ' e x i s t e n t images' which become 
adequate objects f o r that contemplation. 

The c o u p l i n g of o s c i l l a t i o n s i n the image w i t h movements 
of the mind d i c t a t e s the kind of study p r o j e c t e d i n "Part I I " 
of t h i s paper. Therein Stevens' theory i s compared to the 
tenets of symbolism, i n terms both of the c r e a t i o n of the i n -
d i v i d u a l symbol and of the symbolic work - s p e c i f i c a l l y w i t h 
Mallarme's concept of "the Book." The a r c h i t e c t o n i c s of The  
C o l l e c t e d Poems of Wallace Stevens - the v a r i a t i o n and r e p e t i -
t i o n of image, the i n c o r p o r a t i o n s of a l l u s i o n , the progression 
i n the volume from p o s i t i n g s of the contingent to e x i s t e n t 
images of the absolute - are i n d i c a t e d , and the karmic process 
of the mind as i t dramatizes i t s e l f i n that created a r c h i t e c t u r e 
i s d e s c r i b e d . Decreation, a b s t r a c t i o n , composition, and r e p e t i -
t i o n are t r e a t e d as the major aspects of the movement of the 
mind towards the u n f e t t e r e d experience of the absolute. 

The purpose of t h i s t h e s i s i s to provide a concept of the 
nature of Stevens' p o e t i c that w i l l prove e f f i c a c i o u s as a 



i v 
c r i t i c a l approach to h i s poems. I t s v a l i d i t y , t h e r e f o r e , i s 
dependent upon the degree to which the concept h e r e i n evolved 
provides an i n s i g h t i n t o the experience of The C o l l e c t e d Poems 
of Wallace Stevens. 



V 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PAGE 
PRELIMINARY: An Introduction to Obscurity and a 

Defence of Method 1 

PART I - Central Poetry: Morphology 32 

PART II - Central Poetry: Syntax 115 

CONCLUSION 170 

FOOTNOTES 172 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 182 



1 

PRELIMINARY: An Introduction to Obscurity and a Defence of 
Method. 

Singular Teufelsdrockh, would thou hadst t o l d thy 
singular story i n p l a i n words! ... Nothing but 
innuendoes, f i g u r a t i v e crocihetsj a t y p i c a l Shadow, 
f i t f u l l y wavering, p r o p h e t i c o - s a t i r i c ; no c l e a r 
l o g i c a l Picture. "How paint to the sensual eye," asks 
he once, "what passes i n the Holy-of-Holies of Man's 
Soul; i n what words, known to these profane times, 
speak even a f a r o f f of the unspeakable?" We ask i n turn: 
Why perplex these times, profane as they are, with need-
less obscurity, by omission and by commission? Not 
mystical only i s our Professor, but whimsical; and i n -
volves himself ... i n eye-bewildering chiaroscuro. 

Carlyle - Sartor Resartus 

To embark upon a study of the poetry and prose of Wallace 

Stevens by exploring the p o s s i b i l i t i e s of an analogy between him 

and Teufelsdrb'ckh may appear b i z a r r e , yet the points of resem-

blance, not only between the two but also between Teufelsdrockh's 

English editor and a Stevens* c r i t l c - i n - t h e - a b s t r a c t , are such 

that the exploration becomes well-nigh inescapable once conceived. 

The p o s s i b i l i t i e s are such, at l e a s t , as to f a c i l i t a t e an orderly 

introduction to the thesis of t h i s study. 

There i s , i n i t i a l l y , the fact to face that the outcry against 

obscurity contained i n the epigraph of this Introduction has often 

been voiced by the c r i t i c s of Stevens and with more cause than 

Teufelsdrb'ckh's editor could show. As the composer of an esthetic 

theory couched almost wholly i n terms both i d i o s y n c r a t i c and ambig-

uous, Stevens must inevitably evoke the kind of response expressed 

by Graham Hough: 
The c r i t i c a l essays (of Stevens] either say, with ponder-
ous mannerism, nothing at a l l ; or something so elemen-
tary that one can hardly believe It to be the r e s u l t of 
such an elaborate procedure... Outside his own peculiar 
poetic vein he cannot have been a very i n t e l l i g e n t man. 
This i s not a thing that can be said of many poets and 
one would not wish to say i t of Stevens, except that 
the pretensions to a speculative i n t e l l i g e n c e bulk so 



2 

l a r g e l y i n his work. Stranger s t i l l , the subject of 
these meandering pronouncements - the r e l a t i o n between 
r e a l i t y and Imagination - i s the very one that l i e s at 
the centre of his poetry.1 

If the prose of The Necessary Angel and Opus Posthumous can have 

t h i s e f f e c t , i t i s not surprising that Stevens' poetry, based as ' 

i t i s on his theory, should e l i c i t displays of animosity and a c r i d 

wit of the kind used by Winters who, i n objecting to Stevens* 

"perverse ingenuity i n confusing the statement of e s s e n t i a l l y 

simple themes," characterized the poetry by quoting Stevens* 

poem "The Revolutionists Stop For Orangeade": 

Hang a feather by your eye 
Nod and look a l i t t l e s l y . 2 

The analogy between the obscurity of Teufelsdrockh and that 

of Stevens i s not t r i v i a l . There are at least two kinds of 

obscurity - that amorphous kind which comes from vagueness of 

motive or v a c i l l a t i o n i n the execution of idea and act, and that 

unavoidable kind which comes when one seeks to embody the i n e f f a b l e . 

Both are equally Indefinable i n terms of a "clear l o g i c a l Picture." 

But Teuf elsdrb'ckh had his' defense; deliberate obscurity i s the 

only way open, i n "profane times," to speak "of the unspeakable." 

One of the products of t h i s analogy then, i s a pronouncement that 

the purpose of t h i s present study of Stevens' work i s to provide 

a l i k e defense f o r him by proving that the element of obscurity 

i n h i s work i s a necessary and deliberate aspect of h i s attempt 

to speak the unspeakable i n honest speech. 

It may here be objected that what one man finds abstruse i s 

to another obtuse, that Teufelsdrockh's philosophy was not r e a l l y 

obscure, and that allegations of obscurity i n writers usually 

a r i s e because of a penchant i n buffoons l i k e Teufelsdrbckh's 



3 
e d i t o r f o r treating private misreadings as though they were public. 

Indeed, the p r o b a b i l i t y of such an objection a c t u a l l y occurring 

can be.adequately assessed by reference to the fact that an ear-

l i e r version of t h i s study of Stevens was rejected on the grounds 

that i t made abstruse what else was p e r f e c t l y c l e a r to everyone. 

In face of such objections, i t i s not enough to apostrophize the 

perversity of the gods, nor i s i t possible to become an apostate 

from the view that Stevens, by deliberate obscurations, sought to 

bring into being the i n e f f a b l e . An apologia i s needed that w i l l 

J u s t i f y both the a t t r i b u t i o n of obscurity to Stevens 1 work and the 

method used i n t h i s study to bring that obscurity to bear. 

It i s easy enough to prove that Stevens was an advocate of 

obscurity i n poetry. Both the s u p e r f i c i a l statement and the 

i l l u s t r a t i o n provided by the poem "Man Carrying Thing" make the 

point evident: 

The poem must r e s i s t the i n t e l l i g e n c e 
Almost successfully. I l l u s t r a t i o n ? 

A brune figure i n winter evening r e s i s t s 
Identity. The thing he c a r r i e s r e s i s t s 

The most necessitous sense. Accept them, then, 
As secondary (parts not quite perceived-

Of the obvious whole, uncertain p a r t i c l e s 
Of the c e r t a i n s o l i d , the primary free from doubt, 

Things f l o a t i n g l i k e the f i r s t hundred flakes of snow 
Out .of a storm we must endure a l l night, 

Out of a storm of secondary things), 
A horror of thoughts that suddenly are r e a l . 

We must endure our thoughts a l l night, u n t i l 
The bright obvious stands motionless i n cold. 

(CP 3 5 0 - 5 D 
"Man Carrying Thing" i s not an obscure poem, but a poem about 

obscurity. It involves irony to be sure* the r e s o l u t i o n of the 



4 

problem of the desire f o r the one i n face of the world of the 

many, contained i n the f i n a l l i n e , i s such that shock i s sub-

s t i t u t e d f o r the reader's tendency to share the quest of "the most 

necessitous sense," and then a profound yea-saying supplants the 

shock. But one can explicate the poem i n the normal way by de-

manding of i t that i t uphold the d i c t a of the Rev. James Bowyer 

and exhibit the "reason assignable, not only f o r every word, but 

for the p o s i t i o n of every word."3 The figure i s "brune", for 

example, because the French word i s the only one which combines 

the necessary sense of the figure's intimate merging with the 

evening with the subtle suggestion of the savageness, the a n i -

mality, of i t s English phoneme "bruin." ("Shambling" emerges as an 

unspoken word image.) The i n t e r r e l a t i o n s h i p s among words within 

the poem, are exact, natural, and e f f i c a c i o u s . The " s i m i l e " con-

necting "the brune f i g u r e " and "the thing he c a r r i e s " with the 

f a l l i n g snow i s exact because, as dimly perceived and interdepend-

ent parts of the evening, the q u a l i t i e s of one are perceived by 

the s t r a i n i n g "necessitous sense" as the q u a l i t i e s of both - as 

for- example the " f l o a t i n g " of the snow. The analogy between the 

concrete image of the evening and the i m p l i c i t image of the state 

of mind plagued by doubt and uncertainty i s natural because one's 

v i s i o n i s twofold and because the s t r a i n f e l t by the mind as i t 

seeks to perceive the truth (or the one, or i t s e l f ) i s l i k e the 

s t r a i n f e l t by the eyes as one seeks the i d e n t i t y of someone (or 

something) dimly seen. The two analogies together are e f f i c a c i o u s 

because the concreteness given the state of mind ("A horror of 

thoughts that suddenly are real") c a r r i e s past the technical 

point of departure to the awesome image of "the bright obvious". 



To explain why t h i s image i s awesome requires that a number of 

senses that occur simultaneously i n reading the poem be strung 

out i n succession, but c r i t i c i s m aims at explanation before 

e f f e c t . The image, then, inspires triumph and t e r r o r a l l . at 

once and i s , i n consequence, released from a l l motivation, to 

become an object f o r the perfect indifference of esthetic contem-

p l a t i o n . (It i s what l a t e r i n t h i s paper w i l l be termed an 

existent image). The fear and p i t y derive, of course, from the 

concreteness given the image by the man-carrylng-thing of the 

t i t l e who, having already undergone the transformations induced 

by his environment (the animallty and darkness of brune and the 

movement and coldness of snow), i s now c r y s t a l l i z e d , quite l i t e r -

a l l y , as the iceman standing neither a l i v e nor dead but free from 

such l i m i t e d d e f i n i t i o n s of existence and non-existence. The im-

pulse of triumph comes because the reader, addressed d i r e c t l y by  

the narrator, desired to know the figure's i d e n t i t y and to know 

as a form of rescuing both the figure and himself from the "storm 

of secondary things." But the counter-impulse of fear follows 

because, known i n the "bright obvious," the figure i s u t t e r l y 

a l i e n , u t t e r l y unlike the human i d e n t i t y anticipated. The darkness 

of the many y i e l d s to the brightness of the one (one because 

"obvious" "stands motionless" and has, therefore, corporate being), 

but that brightness i s neither warm nor comforting. What happens 

i n t h i s poem i s not that the truth i s reduced to 'human understand-

ing' but that human understanding i s elevated to t r u t h . By using 

the technique of d i r e c t address, Stevens has f i r s t I n t e n s i f i e d the 

solipsism that truth w i l l be found within the framework of human 

concepts of i d e n t i t y and r e a l i t y , then divided t h i s preconception 



6 

into the components of Stoic f a i t h - hope (induced by "the c e r t a i n 

s o l i d , the primary free from doubt") and indifference to pain 

(the command to "Accept, them, then, As secondary" and the asser-

t i o n "we must endure a l l night"). The indifference engendered by 

"the bright obvious" i s Stevens' f i n a l move; i t i s an esthetic 

rather than a Stoic indifference. Stoic indifference i s f a l s e i n 

that i t derives i t s strength from hope and can be measured only i n 

terms of the i n t e n s i t y of f a i t h i n something as yet unpossessed. 

Esthetic indifference, however, i s possible only when the desire 

to possess which i s hope has been negated and consciousness has 

been freed from a l l attachments - i n t h i s case, from the negative 

bonds of the many and the p o s i t i v e bond to the one. Such an i n -

difference I c a l l "a profound yea-saying" because i t depends upon 

achieving a state of consciousness i n which the d u a l i s t i c quandary 

that to a f f i r m one thing i s to deny another i s absolved by accept-

ing both at once. 

Two proofs emerge from the explication of t h i s poem. One i s 

that "Man Carrying Thing" i s not an obscure poem; i t combines a 

philosophy of poetry with an act of poetry which can only be 

delineated clumsily i n prose explications but which, nonetheless, 

are amenable to e x p l i c a t i o n . The second proof supports the con-

tention that Stevens i s an advocate of obscurity i n poetry. The 

analogy between the l i n e s "The poem must r e s i s t the i n t e l l i g e n c e / 

Almost successfully" and the i l l u s t r a t i o n makes i t obvious that 

Stevens wants his poems to undergo the same kind of obscurations 

as those suffered by "the brune f i g u r e " and that he wants t h i s for 

the same reason - to transform his reader's awareness from i t s 

normal state to a state of esthetic contemplation. To do so, 



7 

Stevens must posit preconceived i d e n t i t i e s f o r words and then 

transform those preconceptions. How he does so and why are 

questions which occupy the main body of t h i s paper. 

The proofs which emerge from "Man Carrying Thing" constitute 

an adequate apologia f o r a t t r i b u t i n g deliberate obscurity to 

Stevens' poetry. That they can also serve to defend the w i l f u l 

obscurations of Stevens' prose against the kind of charges made by 

Hough requires explanation. It i s a fact that even i n prose 

Stevens r e s i s t e d the kind of i d e n t i f i c a t i o n created by d e f i n i t i o n . 

In "The Noble Rider and the Sound of Words," f o r example, Stevens 

describes the concept of n o b i l i t y - the c e n t r a l concept of the 

essay - In these terms: 

I mean that n o b i l i t y which i s our s p i r i t u a l height and 
depth; and while I know how d i f f i c u l t i t i s to express 
i t , nevertheless I am bound to give a sense of i t . 
Nothing could be more evasive and inaccessible. Nothing 
d i s t o r t s i t s e l f and seeks disguise more quickly. There 
i s a shame i n d i s c l o s i n g i t and i n i t s d e f i n i t e 
presentations a horror of i t . But there i t i s . ... I 
am not thinking of the e t h i c a l or the sonorous or at 
a l l of the manner of i t . The manner of i t i s , i n f a c t , 
i t s d i f f i c u l t y , which each man must f e e l each day 
d i f f e r e n t l y , f o r himself. I am not thinking of the 
solemn, the portentous or demoded. On the other hand, 
I am evading a d e f i n i t i o n . If i t Is defined, i t w i l l 
be fixed and i t must not be f i x e d . (NA 33-3*1-) 

This i s as close as Stevens' reader w i l l get to a d i r e c t statement 

of " n o b i l i t y . " It should be noted, however, that the vagueness of 

the statement does not appear to be that of a man who doesn't know 

what he i s t a l k i n g about, nor i s i t solely a product of the d i f f i -

c u l t y encountered by a l l writers of prose who wish to impose a 

comprehensive order upon a chaos of p o s s i b i l i t i e s . It i s the 

w i l f u l evasion of a man who f e e l s that "the l i f e of his concept 

w i l l be endangered by d e f i n i t i o n . 

Whether or not one feels that the evasion of d e f i n i t i o n i n 



8 

prose i s unacceptable Is beside the point. The point i s that 

Stevens did d e l i b e r a t e l y embody his esthetic theory i n obscure 

forms and those who want to study Stevens must, of necessity, be 

prepared to take into account and explain, not merely the theory, 

but the theory's mode of existence. Such, at l e a s t , i s the 

assumption upon which t h i s paper r e s t s . 

A detailed defence of the mode of existence of Stevens* 

theory i s part of the involvement i n the f i r s t part of t h i s paper. 

Intimations of the kind of defence i t w i l l o f f e r have already been 

given i n the defence of the mode of existence of his poetry. Suffice 

i t f o r now to say that to accept evasive prose as value i s to accept 

the consequence that such evasions are not then to be evaded by 

s i m p l i f i c a t i o n . It has been suggested to me, f o r example, that the 

concept of "central poetry" used herein as the nexus f o r a l l argu-

ments and observations, i s explainable i n terms of Coleridge's 

d i s t i n c t i o n between primary and secondary imagination.^.While the 

suggestion i s a v a l i d and h e l p f u l one, there are several prohi-

b i t i o n s , i m p l i c i t i n the nature of the subject, against following 

i t too c l o s e l y . There i s , to begin with, the obvious fact that 

Coleridge's d e f i n i t i o n s of the imagination are i n t e g r a l parts of 

a theory of poetry and a metaphysics which have to be explained as 

well and which, when explained, do not conform to the mode of 

existence Stevens demanded for the theory of "central poetry.", 

In t r u t h , t h i s objection i s one voiced by Stevens himself i n 

"The Figure of the Youth as V i r i l e Poet"s 

As poetry goes, as the imagination goes, as the 
approach to truth, or, say, to being by way of the 
imagination goes, Coleridge i s one of the great f i g u r e s . 
Even so, just as William James found i n Bergson a 
persistent euphony, so we f i n d i n Coleridge...a man who 



9 

may be said to have been defining poetry a l l h i s l i f e 
i n d e f i n i t i o n s that are v a l i d enough but which no 
longer impress us primarily by t h e i r v a l i d i t y . (NA kl) 

The second objection i s entailed by the f i r s t . Though he who 

made the suggestion was a man capable of comprehending the range 

of relationships which should and could be applied to any com-

parison between the theories of Stevens and Coleridge, i t i s not 

possible to a f f i r m that a l l c r i t i c s who would make the comparison 

possess h i s exactitude. When the subject of the comparison recurs 

i n the f i r s t part of t h i s paper, an example drawn from a c r i t i c 

of Stevens w i l l a f f o r d concrete evidence of the d i s t o r t i o n s which 

occur when s i m p l i f i e d comparisons are attempted. 

The point i s appropriate not only to a description of the 

importance of modes of existence f o r Stevens, but also to a 

defence of the methodology of this paper. The whole of t h i s paper 

i s , quite properly i n my view, an exercise i n apologetics. Its 

aim i s to e s t a b l i s h what Stevens' theory of poetry i_s, by a process 

of d i a l e c t i c a l argument, and to demonstrate pragmatically that the 

theory thus established i s , indeed, the one that informs his 

poetry. But that aim could not be accomplished i f the paper did 

not include an affirmation of the value of Stevens' theory and 

p r a c t i c e . Benet's comment - "Stevens' mind dwells with v e l l e -

i t l e s that may well be unimportant - but who i s to say they are?"-5-

i s facetious; i f they are " v e l l e i t i e s " the poems and the prose 

which d i s c l o s e them are vapid. Poetry i s an act of wholeness, a 

theory of poetry i s a defence of the importance of that act, and 

c r i t i c i s m must be an explanation of that act, that defence and 

that Importance. 

The long arguments and laborious explications that compose 



10 

the body of t h i s paper are, then, meant as guarantees not only 

of the importance of Stevens' work but of the T i g h t n e s s of t h i s 

kind of approach. Every e f f o r t has been made to avoid the p i t -

f a l l s pointed out so v i v i d l y by the presence therein of previous 

c r i t i c s of Stevens. To explain what those p i t f a l l s are i s to 

explain why t h i s paper i s what i t i s . 

The fact that t h i s paper contains no survey of Stevens* 

poems, f o r example, can be j u s t i f i e d by the assertion that surveys 

made previous to a thorough understanding of i n d i v i d u a l poems are 

premature and can only lead to d i s t o r t i o n . Frank Kermode's 

survey Wallace Stevens, written as a contribution to the Writers  

and C r i t i c s s e r i e s , i s a case i n point. In discussing Stevens' 

f e a l t y to " r e a l i t y , " Kermode quotes his proofs from l i n e s of poetry 

taken out of context (the f i r s t underlining i s mine): 

It { r e a l i t y ] i s always that upon which the l i g h t of the 
mind must beat, i l l u m i n a t i n g , warming, but not changing 
i t . It matters where you see i t from: 

There are men whose words 
Are as natural sounds 
Of t h e i r places 
As the crackle of toucans-

and also, *I am what i s around me.'" 

Inasmuch as the two poems from which these l i n e s are taken, 

"Anecdote of Men By the Thousand" and "Theory," are not d i d a c t i c , 

Kermode's proof i s u n i n t e l l i g i b l e and his use of the l i n e s a 

d i s t o r t i o n . The context of both poems reveals, when considered, 

that the mind's r e l a t i o n to "place" (Kermode's term f o r r e a l i t y ) 

i s experienced i n ways t o t a l l y opposite to that suggested by 

Kermode. In "Anecdote of Men By the Thousand" the speaker of the 

l i n e s quoted by Kermode i s the "he" of the opening - "The soul, he 

said, i s composed/Of the external world" (CP 51) - a nd the function 

of the f i n a l two stanzas i s to i n t e r j e c t , by means (for p r a c t i c a l 



11 

purposes) of narrative voice, an i r o n i c contradiction of the 

thesis propounded by "he": 

Are there mandolines of western mountains? 
Are there, mandolines of northern moonlight? 

The dress of a woman of Lhassa, 
In i t s place, 
Is an i n v i s i b l e element of that place 
Made v i s i b l e . (CP 52) 

A bare statement of the contradiction would be that the external 

world i s a composition of the soul, or, to use Kermode's terms, 

that the mind does indeed "change" r e a l i t y , not only at s i g n i f -

icant moments but also during i t s day to day existence. But the 

contradiction i s experienced as a series of subtle a l t e r a t i o n s of 

the content of "he's" statement. The most obvious a l t e r a t i o n i s 

"an i n v i s i b l e element of that place" which i s the woman's soul 

"made v i s i b l e " by the " r e a l " dress acting quite e x p l i c i t y as 

embodiment, as manifest symbol of soul. The fact that the "woman" 

i s "of Lhassa" i s a d e l i g h t f u l stroke, since Lhassa (Lhasa) i s a 

holy c i t y (for Buddhists) comparable, i n most respects, to Mecca 

and Jerusalem and everyone knows the anagogic propensities of 

holy c i t i e s . One could deepen the stroke, speculatively, by 

commenting that Buddhism admits women as monks and the robes worn 

by Buddhist monks are reincarnations of the Buddha's way of l i f e ? -

of, i n other words, an i n v i s i b l e i d e a l emanating from both the 

i n d i v i d u a l soul and the One Soul. But even without such spec-

u l a t i o n s , there are the minor a l t e r a t i o n s i n the concept of place 

which help to bring to l i g h t the contradiction i n "he's" thesis 

that had been i m p l i c i t from the beginning. Place i s shown to be 

a r e l a t i v e concept of the soul as indicated by the narrator's 

two questions. "He" had spoken of "the East" i n c a p i t a l s (and 



12 

here, again, note the subtle i r o n i c prelude to Lhassa and the 

anagoglc l e v e l ) , as though i t were a place, but the poem proves 

that "the East" i s a conceived rather than perceived place by. 

p o s i t i n g "western mountains" and "northern moonlight." Moon-

l i g h t i s not a place at a l l ; i t exists i n r e f l e c t i o n everywhere 

and i t s d i r e c t i o n depends upon which way the observer faces. 

Western mountains heighten the r e l a t i v i t y of d i r e c t i o n , and they 

also contrast with the "valleys" of the "men of a valley/Who are 

that v a l l e y . " The contrast i s one between circumscribed views and 

l i m i t l e s s v i s i o n . The irony i m p l i c i t i n 'he's* statement i s thus 

brought f u l l y to l i g h t ; i f one says "The soul... i s composed/of 

the external world", one i s saying i n e v i t a b l y that the external 

world i s a manifestation of the soul. 

Stevens was fond of this kind of i r o n i c inversion. It can 

be seen, for example, i n "Tattoo" (CP 81), where what begins as 

an invasion of the i n t e r n a l by the external ends as an assault of 

the i n t e r n a l upon the external; and i t can be seen i n the f l u c t u -

ations of sense between opposition and i d e n t i t y that characterize 

the r e l a t i o n between the two themes of "The Comedian as the Letter 

C»: 

Nota: man i s the i n t e l l i g e n c e of his soil...(CP 27) 

Notaj his s o i l i s man's i n t e l l i g e n c e . (CP 36) 

Inversion can be seen too, although not as e x p l i c i t l y , i n the 

second of the poems used by Kermode for i l l u s t r a t i o n - "Theory": 

I am what i s around me. 

Women understand t h i s . 
One i s not a duchess 
A hundred yards from a carriage. 
These, then, are p o r t r a i t s : 



13 

A black vestibule; 
A high bed sheltered by curtains. 

These are merely instances. 

The irony here i s developed on two fronts. The simple assertion 

"I am what i s around me" i s forced to i t s own contradiction by 

the f i n a l l i n e ; i f one went on multiplying instances the doc-

t r i n e *I am everything' would inevitably emerge. But t h i s i s a 

very funny poem and i t i s a Stevens armed with r i d i c u l e who 

c a r r i e s out the major attack against h i s narrator's t h e s i s . The 

vanity of women would lead them quickly to the necessity of the 

carriage as a setting and foundation for t h e i r glory, but "a 

black v e s t i b u l e " and "a high bed sheltered by curtains," though 

l o g i c a l extensions of the carriage, x^rould hardly command the same 

acceptance. Thackeray's fundamental law - 'above a l l , been seen' -

Is not to be taken l i g h t l y . Women w i l l surround themselves with 

carriages f o r purposes of portraiture - but vestibules and beds 

(though these, too, undoubtedly have t h e i r purpose) never. But 

the aspect of the o r i g i n a l thesis made ridiculous by the analogy 

of the women i s i t s r e f u s a l to grant any powers or sovereignty to 

the i n d i v i d u a l ' I ' or psyche. That r e f u s a l Is seen, by analogy, 

to involve the same cattiness as that displayed by women who 

would l i m i t the q u a l i t y of a duchess to the trappings of a duchess 

- who, i n short, would l i m i t beauty i n others to costume and cos-

metics and, by so doing, destroy the p o s s i b i l i t y of beauty i n 

themselves. 

So the l i n e "I am what i s around me" - which Kermode quotes 

to prove a point about the poetic theory and practice of Stevens -

has, i n r e a l i t y , nothing whatsoever to do with Stevens' theoret-

i c a l p o s i t i o n and concerns his practice only i n so f a r as i t can 



Ik 

be shown by explicating i t s context that the l i n e demonstrates 

his technique f o r bringing out the ambiguities of a l l »x i s y' 

d e f i n i t i o n s . 

While i t i s true that the d i s t o r t i o n s engendered by the 

l i t e r a l t r a n s l a t i o n of l i n e s of poetry into prose statement can 

be avoided by observing the elementary d i s t i n c t i o n between nar-

r a t i v e voice and the poet's 'point of view,' the practice i s , i n 

r e a l i t y , i n d i c a t i v e of an excusable eagerness on the part of 

Stevens' c r i t i c s to make his poetry meaningful and to escape, 

thereby, forced acquiescence i n the proposition that something 

which moves them deeply i s nothing but pretence, or, to use 

Winters* term, "pseudo-mysticism."^ That such eagerness leads, 

even i n c a r e f u l c r i t i c i s m , to the d i s t o r t i o n s of interpretive 

t r a n s l a t i o n can be demonstrated by choosing two i l l u s t r a t i o n s , 

both involving poems which ' r e s i s t the i n t e l l i g e n c e . ' 

The f i r s t of these i l l u s t r a t i o n s comes from William Van 

O'Connor's e x p l i c a t i o n of "Fabliau of F l o r i d a . " (I quote at 

length because I want the r e l a t i o n s h i p between O'Connor's e x p l i -

cation and his basic c r i t i c a l p o s i t i o n to be seen c l e a r l y . With 

the exception of the sentence "The barque could be poetry or a 

human being," the underlining i s mine.) 
Stevens' usual, or at least very frequent, method i n 
writing a poem i s to make a general i n i t i a l statement. 
Thus i n one of the sections of Notes Toward a Supreme  
Fiction? 

Two things of opposite nature (sic3 seem to depend 
On one another, as a man depends 
On a woman, day on night, the imagined 
On the r e a l . This i s the o r i g i n of change. 

Usually, too, the statement i s elaborated, q u a l i f i e d , 
enlarged, and probed. And a l l the while, there i s being 
evoked, as well, by means of metaphor, variant phrases, 
and the employment of d e f t l y appropriate rhythms, a 
conviction or strong sense of the experience generalized 



15 
about i n the introductory abstraction. In "Fabliau of 
F l o r i d a , " from Harmonium, the generalization i s held 
u n t i l the f i n a l couplet. The couplet i s not quite 
abstract and i s therefore hardly t y p i c a l , but the method 
of the poem i s i n d i c a t i v e of much else that i s charac-
t e r i s t i c of his method. 

Barque of phosphor 
On the palmy beach, 

Move outward Into heaven 
Into the alabasters 
And night blues. 

Foam and cloud are one. 
Sultry moon monsters 
Are d i s s o l v i n g {sic] 

F i l l your black h u l l 
With white moonlight [sic] 

There w i l l never be an end 
To t h i s droning of the surf. 

The Statement," there w i l l never be an answer to the  
mystery i n which we l i v e , i s c l e a r enough. The roaring 
of the sea, the d i s s o l v i n g clouds, and the firmament 
extend the simple "statement," giving us as i t were 
convincing and moving proof. Because we are i n and a  
part of t h i s world we should accept i t i n i t s f u l l n e s s -
l i v e l i v e s of the s e n s i b i l i t i e s and imagination. The 
language i s both ambiguous and suggestive. The barque 
could be poetry or a human being. The luminous barque 
f l o a t s on a dark sea; the beach i s r i c h with physical 
l i f e ; the sky i s b e a u t i f u l with b r i l l i a n t l y contrasting 
"alabaster" and "night blue (sicj,^ the alabaster repeat-
ing the whiteness of "phosphor" and preparing for the 
whiteness and suggestions thereof i n "foam," "cloud," 
"moonlight," and surf and the symbolism of blue and  
moonlight s i g n i f y i n g the realm of s e n s i b i l i t y and  
imagination which the poet would not have us neglect or  
deny.V" 

Those who f i n d O'Connor's e x p l i c a t i o n of "Fabliau of F l o r i d a " 

i l l u m i n a t i n g , or even admlssable as c r i t i c i s m , w i l l no doubt f e e l 

that t h i s paper i s nothing but the most arrant nonsense. On the 

other hand, those who share my sense of dumfoundment. at the 

travesties of c r i t i c a l p r i n c i p l e contained therein w i l l r e a l i z e 

that O'Connor's e x p l i c a t i o n i s the product of a fundamental  

c o n f l i c t between two theories of the nature and function of poetry. 



16 

Clearly perceivable behind O'Connor's e x p l i c a t i o n i s the assump-

t i o n that poetry i s , or ought to be, what I c a l l euhemeristic. 

But the poem i t s e l f i s quite obviously based upon, and amenable 

only to, theories of poetry which I c a l l hermetic. The d i s t i n c -

t i o n between euhemeristic and hermetic theories i s a d i f f i c u l t 

one to make c l e a r , because i t i s , i n the f i n a l a n a l y s i s , a d i s - 

t i n c t i o n between two a r t i f i c i a l l y r i g i d philosophies rather than  

a philosophical d i s t i n c t i o n . I f I were to characterize the 

euhemeristic theory, f o r example, as thorough-going humanitarian-

ism, I would make i t appear that hermetic theories were based 

upon a r e a l or "pseudo" mysticism, whereas the hermetic view that 

the function of poetry i s e i t h e r primarily or wholly 'esthetic* 

i s , i n a c t u a l i t y , merely the product of an emphasis upon bursting 

the bonds of a narrow humanitarian!sm. To say that the d i v i s i o n 

i s fundamental i s one thing; to say that the two theories are of 

necessity mutually exclusive i s another. 

A digression upon the d i s t i n c t i o n between these theories i s 

mandatory because i t i s a d i s t i n c t i o n which explains why Stevens 

was so r e t i c e n t about d e f i n i t i o n s of h i s theory. It w i l l emerge 

c l e a r l y i n the f i r s t part of t h i s paper that Stevens* theory of 

poetry i s one which negates the a r t i f i c i a l d i s t i n c t i o n between the 

two by destroying the most extreme premiss of each - the euhemer-

i s t i c doctrine that terms l i k e God, soul, and poetry should be 

explained i n terms of psychological or s o c i o l o g i c a l or some-kind-

o f - l o g i c a l phenomena. and the hermetic doctrine that a l l the 

absolute things, l i k e God, soul, and poetry, are not demonstrable 

i n man's mere terms and can be known only through b e l i e f . Stevens* 

whole e f f o r t was directed toward proving that the hermetic 



17 
acceptance of absolutes could be reached, and indeed must i n - •• 

evitably be reached, through the euhemeristlc. His aim, i n other 

words, was to transform the euhemeristlc into the hermetic. This 

i s not the same as saying that he wanted the hermetic to become 

the euhemeristic because the euhemeristic i s , by v i r t u e of i t s 

mode of existence, directed towards the exclusion of c e r t a i n 

human attitudes or states of mind, while the hermetic, because of 

the absolute nature of i t s postulates, must be p o t e n t i a l l y capable 

of including everything. To object to T i n d a l l ' s observation - "By 

h i s Stevens* prose you can prove anything you like"10 - i s to give 

a sense of the difference; proving the accord of everything i s not 

l i k e proving "anything you l i k e . " 

The trouble with O'Connor's explication of "Fabliau of 

F l o r i d a " i s not that i t exhibits the same kind of unfortunate 

misreading that led O'Connor to a t t r i b u t e to Stevens Tate's 

t r i b u t e to T.S. E l i o t , H but that i t passes over the r e a l act of 

the poem i n a f r a n t i c attempt to make i t conform to euhemeristic 

preconceptions of the nature and function of poetry. O'Connor 

assumes that the function of the poem i s to say something to 

someone; and he gives his reader two related statements which 

supposedly issue from the poem - "The 'statement,' there w i l l 

never be an answer to the mystery i n which we l i v e . . . " and the 

statement "Because we are i n and a part of t h i s world we should 

accept i t i n i t s f u l l n e s s - l i v e l i v e s of the s e n s i b i l i t e s and 

imagination." The f i r s t of these statements i s applicable to the 

poem only i n so f a r as i t i s applicable to thousands of poems; as 

an e x p l i c a t i o n of the l a s t two l i n e s i t i s meaningless. "There 

w i l l never be an end/To t h i s droning of the surf" i s not addressed 



18 

to O'Connor's "we"; It Is a narrative comment made at the conclu-

sion of a series of commands addressed to the "Barque of phosphor." 

The second of O'Connor's statements purports to e l i c i t from the 

poem a moral law; i t suggests, i n other words, that the poet i s 

making a plea for a c e r t a i n course of action, a c e r t a i n way of 

l i v i n g . Again, as a general observation about what poets do i n -

d i r e c t l y i n publishing t h e i r poems, this statement i s probably 

true; but any d i r e c t connection between i t and the poem i s garnered 

only by a process that makes a mockery of the concept of "symbolism." 

O'Connor i s right when he says that the language of the poem " i s 

both ambiguous and suggestive," but when he attempts to make con-

crete Images y i e l d a statement of abstract terms f i r s t by spec-

u l a t i n g that the barque of phosphor "could be poetry or a human  

being" and then by dogmatically asserting "the symbolism of blue 

and moonlight s i g n i f y ... the realm of s e n s i b i l i t y and the imagina-

t i o n " - he wantonly destroys the very q u a l i t y of suggestiveness 

upon which the poem, as poem, depends. I f the relationship 

between abstract statement and concrete image were r e a l l y as 

O'Connor suggests, people who read symbolist poetry would do 

better to turn to philosophy. 

In point of f a c t , one can read "Fabliau of F l o r i d a " i n the 

a l l e g o r i c a l manner O'Connor suggests. One then sees, "poetry or 

a man, from the midst of a r i c h physical l i f e ("the beach i s r i c h 

with physical l i f e " ) "Move outxvard" into "the realm of s e n s i b i l i t y 

and imagination," because, presumably, "he" or " i t " has to accept 

the world " i n i t s f u l l n e s s . " That the r e s u l t of such a reading i s 

both a r b i t r a r y and unsatisfying should be obvious. But neither i s 

i t s a t i s f a c t o r y to echo Holmes and say that Stevens i s "... one of 



19 

the best non-communicating poets of our day"12 because such a 

claim would validate Yvor Winters' major objection against Stevens' 

kind of poem: 

...The chief disadvantage i s that i t renders i n t e l l i -
g i b l e discussion of art Impossible, and i t relegates 
art to the p o s i t i o n of an esoteric indulgence, possibly 
though not c e r t a i n l y harmless.. . . . 1 3 

The question i s not one of whether "Fabliau of F l o r i d a " communi-

cates but of what i t communicates, and the only way to f i n d out i s 

to read the poem without making assumptions about the function of 

poetry and without, i f possible, preconceptions. Read i n t h i s 

manner, the poem y i e l d s an hermetic rather than a euhemeristic 

'meaning.* 

To begin with, the reader sees i n "Barque of phosphor" 

purely a barque of phosphor; there i s nothing i n the poem to 

suggest that he should i d e n t i f y himself or any abstraction with i t . 

He then traces the suggestions of movement commanded by the narra-

t i v e voice and l i s t e n s to the two formal statements of stanza 

three and stanza f i v e . Unless he i s capable of rapid a s s i m i l a t i o n , 

that i s about a l l the reader w i l l get from a f i r s t reading. But 

even from that f i r s t reading i t has become obvious that the com-

mands of the narrative voice are complex and somehow grouped 

around and j u s t i f i e d by the formal analogy "Foam and cloud are one." 

In breaking down the complexity of command, the reader w i l l note 

that there i s an opposition between the d i r e c t i o n of " t h i s droning 

of the surf" and the command "Move outward into heaven." He w i l l 

-also note that the r e l a t i o n between sky and sea, established by 

the formal analogy, does depend on the "alabasters" of the clouds 

seen against a setting of "night blues" and the corresponding 



20 

whiteness of foam frothed up by the dark sea as i t meets the shore 

and becomes surf. He i s now capable of two extensions of the 

correspondence. The f i r s t i s that the contradiction involved i n 

the command " P i l l your black hull/With white moonlight" i s analo-

gous to the r e a l i z e d contradiction between sea and foam, cloud 

and sky. The second extension w i l l come when he has questioned 

the f i r s t l i n e . To say, as O'Connor does, that "the luminous 

bark f l o a t s on a dark sea" i s to man i t with the three wise men of 

Gotham. The barque of phosphor i s a curious c r a f t ; were i t a f l o a t , 

one could agree.with O'Connor's v i s i o n and a t t r i b u t e the phrase 

"of phosphor" to the phosphorescent wake l e f t by boats at dusk; 

but the barque i s "On the palmy, beach" and the command that i t 

"Move outward into heaven" i s not followed immediately (since i n 

stanza four the barque i s s t i l l , as i t x\rere, taking on cargo). 

But what does "of phosphor" mean then? It can mean that the barque 

i s made of a phosphorescent substance, l i k e decayed wood, or i t 

can mean, l i t e r a l l y , that the barque i s made of phosphorus ( i t s 

"black h u l l " would then be a product of the transparent a l l o t r o p l c 

form subjected to great pressure), or, p o e t i c a l l y , that i t i s the 

barque of the morning star. In point of f a c t , a l l three meanings 

are relevant to the poem. If one takes the 'most r e a l i s t i c * pos-

s i b i l i t y f i r s t , one establishes the image of the d e r e l i c t h u l l , no 

longer seaworthy, abandoned on the beach. I f one then superimposes 

the v a l i d analogy between the wood's phosphorescence and the prop-

e r t i e s of phosphorus, one has an image of a boat which i s capable 

of acting on the narrator's impossible commands. The chain of 

transformation here i s from the transparent allotrope which can 

e x i s t as a c r y s t a l l i n e substance i n a i r and which, through pressure, 



21 

i s transformed into the powdery substance of the black a l l o t r o p e , 

to the pure white phosphorus, which can be obtained by melting 

the black a l l o t r o p e , and which ignites i n a i r . The relevance of 

these transformations i s immediately v e r i f i a b l e by the exact image 

they evoke. "Sultry moon-monsters/Are d i s s o l v i n g , " and as the 

black h u l l f i l l s with moonlight i t appears to disappear. Instead 

of .the v i s i b l e shape of a black h u l l on sand, there i s a moment 

of s i l v e r i n g i n which the black h u l l loses i t s shape i n the 

i n t e n s i t y of l i g h t . It i s one of those moments of b r i l l i a n t ' p f t t ' 

to which one's v i s i o n i s occasionally e n t i t l e d and i n "Fabliau of 

F l o r i d a " i t i s used to r e a l i z e the narrator's desire. What hap-

pens i s that as the moonlight h i t s the boat i t appears to peel 

away the black h u l l , to make i t move away from where i t was; and 

i f the eye follows t h i s apparent movement i t w i l l f i n d the movement's 

extension, not i n the sea because there i s an opposition of d i r e c -

t i o n , but i n , say, the morning star which appears to be moving as 

fast as the boat because i t too takes i t s movement, d i r e c t i o n and 

speed from the clouds* movement across the sky. The moonlight 

gives to the barque Its appearence of movement, but i t i s the star 

which retains i t s substance. 

The analysis i s not yet complete. To t h i s point, the endea-

vor has been to explain what happens i n the poem, but any c r i t i c a l 

account must be able to explain why what happens i s l e g i t i m a t e l y 

c a l l e d poetry. Were the poem as devoid of human concern as the 

reader's e x p l i c a t i o n has thus f a r made i t appear, i t would be 

tempting to return to the I n s p i r a t i o n a l d i s t o r t i o n s of O'Connor. 

But the narrative voice of "Fabliau of F l o r i d a " i s a human one and 

i t s role i n the poem explains why what happens i s poetry. In 



22 

e f f e c t , what happens to the barque i s an intimation of transcen-

dence, a momentary proof of the f l u i d nature of r e a l i t y . The 

poetic analogy" "Foam and cloud are one," becomes b r i e f l y , a 

philosophical analogy because the barque appears to be able to 

s a i l the sky. Such a coupling of reason and the imagination was 

of primary importance to Stevenst 

. . . i f an imaginative idea s a t i s f i e s the imagination, 
we are i n d i f f e r e n t to the fact that i t does not s a t i s f y 
the reason, although we concede that i t would be com-
plete, as an idea, i f , i n addition to s a t i s f y i n g the 
imagination, i t also s a t i s f i e d the reason. From t h i s 
analysis, we deduce that an idea that s a t i s f i e s both 
the reason and the imagination, i f i t happened, f o r 
instance, to be an idea of God, would e s t a b l i s h a 
divine beginning and end f o r us which, at the moment, 
the reason, singly, at best proposes and on which, at 
the moment, the Imagination, singly, merely meditates. 
This i s an i l l u s t r a t i o n . It seems elementary, from 
t h i s point of view, that the poet, i n order to f u l f i l l 
himself, must accomplish a poetry that s a t i s f i e s both 
the reason and the imagination. It does not follow 
that i n the long run the poet w i l l f i n d himself i n the 
p o s i t i o n i n which the philosopher now finds himself. 
On the contrary, i f the end of the philosopher i s 
despair, the end of the poet i s f u l f i l l m e n t , since the 
poet finds a sanction for l i f e i n poetry that s a t i s f i e s 
the imagination. (NA kZ-kJ) 

Such i s the value of the barque's momentary transcendence. 

It should be emphasized, however, that neither Stevens nor 

the narrative voice of "Fabliau of F l o r i d a " would attempt to palm 

o f f an evanescent t r i c k of the moonlight as mint transcendence. 

The poem ends with the admission "There w i l l never be an end/To 

t h i s droning of the surf." It i s , i n the context of the poem, the 

monotonous pressure of the surf that has driven the barque to i t s 

grave ashore and which represents the energy of l i m i t a t i o n . It 

i s t h i s almost intangible sense of l i m i t a t i o n that the narrator 

r e s i s t s by indulging i n his mental game of counter-move. The 

f i n a l two l i n e s are an admission, not of defeat, but of 
L-



2 3 

relinquishment. In making his moves, the narrator has won trans-

cendence for the barque, but a l l his pieces have been used. The 

ephemeral forces of-the moonlight are not as permanent as the 

i n s i s t e n t sea. Both the poem and narrator's point of view 

exemplify what must be c l a s s i f i e d i n the catalogue of Stevens' 

categories as the exercise - one of the ways i n which "the figure 

of a youth as v i r i l e poet" expends his energy: 

Having elected to exercise his power to the f u l l and at 
i t s height, and having i d e n t i f i e d his power as the power 
of the imagination, he may begin i t s exercise by study-
ing i t i n exercise and proceed l i t t l e by l i t t l e , as he 
becomes his own master, to those violences which are the 
maturity of h i s desires. (NA 63-64) 

It i s noteworthy that such exercises as "Fabliau of F l o r i d a " are 

not to be considered merely as i s o l a t e d instances of a tenuous 

e s t h e t i c , but as paving stones on the way to f u l f i l l m e n t . Nor i s 

there much doubt about the nature of that f u l f i l l m e n t i n Stevens' 

mind: „ 

In t h i s state of elevation we f e e l p e r f e c t l y adapted to 
the idea that moves and l'oiseau qui chante. The 
i d e n t i t y of the f e e l i n g i s subject to discussion and, 
from t h i s , i t follows that i t s value i s debatable. It 
may be dismissed, on the one hand, as a commonplace 
aesthetic s a t i s f a c t i o n ; and, on the other hand, i f we 
say that the idea of God i s merely a poetic idea, even 
i f the supreme poetic idea, and that our notions of 
heaven and h e l l are merely poetry not so c a l l e d , even 
i f poetry that involves us v i t a l l y , the f e e l i n g of 
deliverance, of a release, of a perfection touched, of 
a vocation so that a l l men may know the truth and that 
the truth may set them free - i f we say these things 
and i f we are able to see the poet who achieved God and 
placed Him i n His seat i n heaven i n a l l His glory, the 
poet himself, s t i l l i n the ecstacy of the poem that 
completely accomplished his purpose, would have seemed, 
whether young or old, whether i n rags or ceremonial robe, 
a man who needed what he created, u t t e r i n g the hymns of 
;j.oy that followed h i s creation. (NA 51) 

Should there be any doubt about what Stevens Is saying here, I 

should l i k e to resolve i t by quoting a comparable comment by Valeryj 



2k 

I consider that the essence of Poetry i s , according 
to d i f f e r e n t types of minds, either quite worthless 
or of i n f i n i t e importance? i n which i t i s l i k e God 
Himself.1^ 

It may appear that the i l l u s t r a t i v e use of O'Connor's 

d i s t o r t i o n of "Fabliau of F l o r i d a " has been stretched too f a r , 

but i t is p r e c i s e l y the f a i l u r e to recognize the hermetic concept 

of transcendence that constitutes the c r i m i n a l i t y of euhemeristic 

c r i t i c s . They attempt to give worth to poetry by making i t into 

something else and, i n so doing, they discard the l i f e of poetry 

and leave t h e i r readers with the trash of terms. 

The second i l l u s t r a t i o n of the p i t f a l l s of interpretive 

c r i t i c i s m i s p a r a l l e l to the f i r s t and I use i t only to define 

one of the necessary l i m i t s to t h i s paper. The i l l u s t r a t i o n 

involves the poem "The V i r g i n Carrying a Lantern": 

There are no bears among the roses, 
Only a negress who supposes 
Things f a l s e and wrong 

About the lantern of the beauty 
Who walks there, as a farewell duty, 
Walks long and long. 

The p i t y that her pious egress 
Should f i l l the v i g i l of a negress 
With heat so strong! (CP 71) 

Two responses to t h i s poem, when placed together, accurately 

delineate the dilemma of Stevens' c r i t i c s . The f i r s t response 

i s Richard Watson's and the second T i n d a l l ' s : 

It i s appropriate that aphrodlsiacal night should be 
the time that v i r g i n s , i n " l e t t i n g themselves go" should 
lose what, i n the r e a l i s t i c l i g h t of day, they would 
guard - t h e i r maidenhead. ...Here i s an aspect of our 
study of self-completion, the sexual aspect. ...The 
symbol of individuation here...is the garden, occur-
r i n g constantly with t h i s function from the book of 
Genesis to T.S. E l i o t ' s Burnt Norton. 

In t h i s d e l i g h t f u l l i t t l e poem, the white v i r g i n 
who i s approaching consummation i s watched by a 



25 
frustrated negro woman, who suspects what Is to occur.^5 

In Stevens' l i t t l e scene the d e t a i l s , which have the 
c l a r i t y of dream, share dream's darkness despite that 
lantern. What are the v i r g i n and her observer doing 
there? Why are there no bears among the roses? Like 
a metaphor of Stevens' magnifico, t h i s s i t u a t i o n " w i l l 
not declare i t s e l f yet i s c e r t a i n as meaning." Evad-
ing analysis, "The V i r g i n Carrying a Lantern" i s i n -
d e f i n i t e l y suggestive. . . . I t i s a strange experience, 
and i t s meaning, l i k e that of a picture, i s what i t i s . 
"A poem," says Stevens i n "Adagia," "need not have a 
meaning and l i k e most things in nature often does not 
have."l° 

Watson's c r i t i c i s m i s part of an attempt to f i t Stevens' Harmonium 

poems into a framework constructed from "...a combination of 

a n a l y t i c modes developed by Sigmund Freud and C.C. Jung, the 

psychologists, and Kenneth Burke, the post-Colerldglan l i t e r a r y 

c r i t i c . " 1 ? Though, i n p r i n c i p l e , Watson's approach i s s i g n i f i c a n t , 

one cannot escape the f e e l i n g that his 'psychological dramatism' 

i s wrongfully applied when i t makes of "the beauty/Who walks there, 

as a farewell duty" the image of a woman ' l e t t i n g herself go.' 

Once again, the a p p l i c a t i o n of t h e o r e t i c a l terminology has sup-

planted p r a c t i c a l c r i t i c i s m and resulted i n euhemeristic d i s t o r -

t i o n s . But what are the results of p r a c t i c a l c r i t i c i s m i n t h i s 

case? T i n d a l l asks the p r a c t i c a l questions, but he gives no 

answers. To say, "Evading analysis, "The V i r g i n Carrying a Lantern* 

i s i n d e f i n i t e l y suggestive" i s to say that a poem i s no more mean-

i n g f u l than a woman's face or a summer's cloud. 

Both Watson and T i n d a l l are I n t e l l i g e n t c r i t i c s and the 

p o s s i b i l i t y that t h e i r d i f f i c u l t i e s are due to dullness can be 

dismissed at once. They are, rather, i n d i c a t i v e of a problem 

pointed out by Frank Doggett as recently as 1959. "For any reader 

of Stevens the p r i n c i p a l d i f f i c u l t y i s to know what each poem 



26 

r e a l l y .is. This i s more than a matter of knowing what i t means."1^ 

The resolution of that problem i s a task which demands a itfhole 

body of c r i t i c i s m .written on the basis of a single set of  

p r i n c i p l e s ; "The V i r g i n Carrying a Lantern" demonstrates why. 

In actual f a c t , the poem can be analyzed by a c r i t i c either 

purely pragmatic or else theoretic only to the extent that he 

expects poetry to be a wholeness of sense. Such a c r i t i c would 

answer T i n d a l l ' s question about the f i r s t l i n e by noting that 

"bears" i n conjunction with v i r g i n s are not to be seen as animals 

but as the v i r g i n votaries of Artemis who, during the Brauronian 

r i t e s of i n i t i a t i o n , were c a l l e d 'bears' i n recognition of the 

goddess* connection with that animal.^ 9 The relevance of the 

s u b s t i t u t i o n of a "negress" for the v i r g i n s about to be dedicated 

to the i d e a l of v i r g i n i t y he would explain by noting the h i s t o r i c 

degeneration of the Artemis c u l t , c l a s s i c a l l y known for i t s e t h i c a l 

p u r i t y , through i t s intermingling with the o r g i a s t i c c u l t of Hecate, 

a c u l t which s t i l l survives among the negro p r a c t i t i o n e r s of voodoo 

i n the West Indies and the Southern United States, and perhaps 

among witches everywhere. Seen i n t h i s l i g h t , the poem i s a s a t i r e 

on the subject of myth; i t s a t i r i z e s the degeneration of myth into 

s u p e r s t i t i o n and the consequent substitution of the energy of 

mundane human desires for the power of high ideals to l i f t human 

conduct above i t s ordinary l e v e l . 

Such a c r i t i c could go to great lengths to prove h i s reading 

legimate without any actual misreading of the poem. He could 

i n s i s t , for example, that the suppositions of the negress are not 

concerned with what the v i r g i n i s going to do. Those who read the 

l i n e s "Things f a l s e and wrong/About the lantern of the beauty/Who 



walks there as a farewell duty/Walks there as a farewell duty/ 

Walks long and long" as though they proved that the v i r g i n i s 

"approaching consummation" are forced to the contradictory view 

that the v i r g i n i s carrying the lantern as a signal to her lover 

and at the same time i s carrying i t because i t i s a duty imposed 

i n connection to her farewell to v i r g i n i t y . Such a reading, i n 

e f f e c t , grants the alleged supposition of the negress, and can 

disagree only with her 'moral reaction'; i n short, such a reading 

must end with an encomium on how good i t i s for v i r g i n s to give up 

t h e i r maidenheads and what a p i t y i t i s that the negress cannot 

see the esthetic charm of the act. Howard Baker's i n t e r p r e t a t i o n 

of the poem i s a case i n point: 

The point of t h i s poem i s that a pious action i s mistaken 
f o r lechery ... The clash of interpretations i s gay and 
i r o n i c , but i t i s also a serious matter; f o r such clashes 
are what make a l l moral decision d i f f l c u l t . . . T h e poem i s 
s l i g h t l y ambiguous i n that x\re are not t o l d s p e c i f i c a l l y 
why the v i r g i n walks abroad with a lantern... we may 
guess that the v i r g i n i s concerned with her state of 
v i r g i n i t y and intends to part from it.20 

A pragmatic reading, however, reveals that i t i s the suppo-

s i t i o n s of the negress and of Baker and Watson (a c l e a r case of 

g u i l t by association) which are "false and wrong." The "things" 

which the negress supposes have to do with "the lantern of the 

beauty"; there i s no s y n t a c t i c a l necessity f o r assuming that the 

negress' suppositions are about the function of the l i g h t and not 

about i t s nature. In other words, one of the "Things f a l s e and 

wrong" i s the fact that the "pious egress" of the v i r g i n "should 

f i l l the v i g i l of a negress/With heat so strong!" The fact that 

egress means, l i t e r a l l y , 'a going out' points up the transforma-

t i o n of l i g h t into heat that here takes place and helps to prove 

the pragmatic reading of degeneration. " V i g i l " i s used i r o n i c a l l y , 



28 

to denote the difference between the purposeful wakefulness of 

the negress and the r e l i g i o u s v i g i l formerly kept by "bears." 

The "pious egress" of the v i r g i n i s not her "farewell duty," but 

the consequence of that duty. Thus the duty of the v i r g i n can be 

seen as an expression of that obligation on the part of gods and 

goddesses to l i f t men out of the sensuous darkness by the shining 

example of the immortal i d e a l . That the v i r g i n ' s duty i s here a 

"farewell duty" i s either an atrocious pun on human welfare or i t 

refers to the fact that though the gods of myth have deserted the 

world of r e a l i t y they have l e f t i n t h e i r stead s t i l l - l i v i n g i d e a l s . 

Her egress i s "pious" for two reasons; because i t i s i n the nature 

of i n i t i a t i o n that the l i v i n g i d e a l of v i r g i n i t y should be trans-

ferred from embodiment i n the goddess to embodiment i n her "bears" 

- from the h i e r a t i c to the human - and the transfer necessitates 

the withdrawal of the goddess, and because the debasement of an 

• i d e a l , i n the s a t i r i c context, i s not to be countenanced by a 

goddess whose very existence i s devoted to that i d e a l . 

The pragmatic reading of "The V i r g i n Carrying a Lantern" 

creates no c o n f l i c t with the theoretic concept of transcendence 

as the function of poetry, discussed i n r e l a t i o n to "Fabliau of 

F l o r i d a " and suggested by the analysis of "Man Carrying Thing." 

It i s true that the poem appears to be about transcendence rather 

than being i t s e l f transcendent - i t i s a peculiar q u a l i t y of 

s a t i r e that i t i s negative i n so f a r as i t s emphasis i s upon 

negation rather than creation. But the elements of transcendence 

are there i n the opposition between the human misuse of embodiments 

of the i d e a l and the p o s s i b i l i t y of human transcendence from one 

l e v e l of existence to another by incorporation of i d e a l values 



29 

into the psyche, just as the intense desire for a pure love i s 

evident i n John Donne *s "Song; 'Go and catch a f a l l i n g star.*" 

Mo, the problem created by t h i s reading concerns Stevens' tech-

nique rather than his theory and, by i n d i r e c t i o n , c r i t i c a l ap-

proaches. The reading appears to depend upon the recognition of 

an a l l u s i o n and consequently the body of the poem seems to be 

d e r i v a t i v e . This brings up! the problem of allusiveness i n poetry 

- a problem ably discussed by Wlmsatt i n The Verbal Icon: 

The frequency and depth of l i t e r a r y a l l u s i o n i n the 
poetry of E l i o t and others has driven so many i n pursuit 
of f u l l meanings to the Golden Bough and the Elizabethan 
drama that i t has become a kind of commonplace to suppose 
that we do not know what a poet means unless we have 
traced him i n h i s reading - a supposition redolent with 
i n t e n t i o n a l i m p l i c a t i o n s . 2 ^ 

Wimsatt would grant the e f f i c a c y of a l l u s i o n as long as i t i s 

"integrated" within the poem and so would be s a t i s f i e d , presumably, 

with Stevens' use of Artemis i n "The V i r g i n Carrying a Lantern." 

But Stevens i s frequently a l l u s i v e and his a l l u s i o n s are not always 

i d e n t i f i a b l e . In "The Novel," f o r example: 

How t r a n q u i l i t was at v i v i d e s t Varadero, 
While the water kept running through the mouth of 

the speaker, 
Saying: O l a l l a blanca en e l bianco, 
L o l - l o l l i n g the endlessness of poetry. (CP 4 5 7 - 5 8 ) 

O l a l l a i s the Spanish name for Saint E u l a l i a and the phrase 

means "white E u l a l i a i n the (masculine) white" but that fact i s 

not to be found i n most Spanish-English d i c t i o n a r i e s , nor i s i t 

Immediately illuminating once found. Varadero s t i l l remains an 

Erewhon for me. The whole poem i s a commentary on an a l l u s i o n and 

the source and circumstances of that a l l u s i o n remain unnoted i n 

c r i t i c i s m . 

To admit Stevens-* allusiveness i s not to say, however, that 



30 
the only recourse l e f t to the c r i t i c i s the search f o r i n f l u e n c e s 
and b i o g r a p h i c a l c r i t i c i s m . Stevens' a l l u s i o n s , l i k e a l l h i s 
other obscurations, have t h e i r purpose and j u s t i f i c a t i o n i n 
e s t a b l i s h i n g the mode of existence of " c e n t r a l poetry," and mere 
s c h o l a r s h i p w i l l not uncover that purpose, no matter how many 
sources i t f i n d s . The point i s that there i s a much more valuable 
way, a l b e i t a much longer one, to come to g r i p s w i t h poems l i k e 
"The V i r g i n C a r r y i n g a Lantern" than through t r a c i n g a l l u s i o n s . 
That way i s to study recurrent images i n the C o l l e c t e d Poems and 
what Stevens termed " v a r i a b l e symbol" i n reference to the statue 
i n "Owl's Clover" (OP 219). 

I t i s the conception of such a study that makes both the 
i m p o s i t i o n of l i m i t s on t h i s paper and the i n s i s t e n c e that c r i t i c s 
should approach Stevens' poems with a common set of p r i n c i p l e s 
necessary. As the p u b l i c a t i o n of Walsh's Concordance to the Poetry  
of Wallace S t e v e n s 2 2 i n d i c a t e s , any study of the i n t e r a c t i o n s be-
tween poems that r e s u l t from r e c u r r e n t images would have to be of 
monumental proportions to be considered at a l l i n c l u s i v e . Nor w i l l 
any study of Stevens' " v a r i a b l e symbols" succeed which i s based 
upon the p e u r i l e attempt to s t i l l the vibrancy of t h e i r o s c i l l a -
t i o n s i n order to equate them with a b s t r a c t terms l i k e imagination, 
r e a l i t y , or the i d e a l . The kind of harmony that Santayana t a l k e d 
about i s the k i n d that Stevens a c t u a l l y composed: 

The poet i s a r e b u i l d e r of the imagination, t o make a 
harmony i n t h a t . And he i s not a complete poet i f h i s 
whole imagination i s not attuned and h i s whole experience 
composed i n t o a s i n g l e symphony.23 

The argument concerning the techniques of recurrent images 
and " v a r i a b l e symbol" i s pursued i n the second part of t h i s paper. 
The nub of t h a t argument i s , however, immediately r e l e v a n t . The 



31 
point i s that to explicate an i n d i v i d u a l poem of Stevens i t Is 

s u f f i c i e n t that the c r i t i c avoid the p i t f a l l s of preconception 

and trust Stevens' i n t e g r i t y i n using words, but to understand the 

t o t a l harmony of Stevens' poems i t i s necessary to experience the 

i n d i v i d u a l poem i n i t s r e l a t i o n to the whole of his Collected  

Poems. The intent i n t h i s paper i s to e s t a b l i s h that necessity by 

examining the theory and purport of "central poetry." Any short-

comings i n such a project are. afforded t h e i r excuse by a parting 

reference to Teufelsdrockh's Editor: 

Be i t remembered, however, that such purport Is here 
not so much evolved, as detected to l i e ready for 
evolving. We are to guide our B r i t i s h Friends into the 
new Gold-country, and show them the mines; nowise to d i g -
out and exhaust i t s wealth...Once there, l e t each dig f o r 
his own behoof, and enrich himself.24 



32 

PART I - Central Poetry: Morphology 

Is i t true that our a i r i s disturbed., as Mallarme said, 
by "the trembling of the v e i l of the temple," or "that 
our whole age i s seeking to bring forth a sacred book?" 
Some of us thought that book near towards the end of 
l a s t century, but the tide sank again. 

Yeats - The Trembling of the V e i l 

Among the anecdotes that have accumulated around Stevens there 

i s one. reported by C l a r d i which deserves r e p e t i t i o n , both for i t s 

p i t h and i t s pertinency to the subject of "central poetry": 

...Stevens said, "The trouble with you, Frost, i s that 
you write on subjects." Frost r e p l i e d , "The trouble with 
you i s you write b r i c - a - b r a c " ! 

The anecdote i s undated, but what Stevens meant by "subjects" i s 

undoubtedly what he referred to (in a l e t t e r to William Carlos 

Williams written before 1920) as not having "a fixed point of view." 2 

Williams' reaction was i n i t i a l l y as antagonistic as F r o s t ' s 3 * and 

as l a t e as 193? he published a charge that the trouble with Stevens 

i s that "he wants to think."^ But by 1951 there appears to be an 

a l t e r a t i o n i n Williams' a t t i t u d e . In his autobiography, he wrote 

that Wallace Stevens " . . . i s constantly i n my thoughts,"5 and i n 

1 9 5 7 , he e n t i t l e d a review of Opus Posthumous "Poet of a Steadfast 

Pattern" and recognized therein the e f f i c a c y of a fixed point of 

view: 

As good a summary of Stevens' s i t u a t i o n facing the world 
i s contained - as might be expected i n a man at the same 
time so vocal and reticent as he was and prone to cover 
his own traces - i n the poem "Architecture," laying out 
when he was a young man a plan he was to follow during 
his entire l i f e . 6 

It i s , on the face of i t , a mistake to maintain, as Lionel 

Abel does, that Stevens was "outside the l i t e r a r y controversies 

of h i s time." 7 A l l three poets, Williams, Frost, and Stevens -

are contemporary and the basis of t h e i r arguments can be found i n 



33 

the pre-eminent esthetic problem of t h e i r time. Walter Buttel, 

i n his study of the origins of Stevens* "theme and s t y l e , " defines 

that problem (and quotes Williams i n doing so): 

Stevens wrote his undergraduate verse at a time 
(1898 - 1900) when . . . " i t was commonplace to say that 
a l l the poetry had been written and a l l the paintings 
painted." ...This commonplace does not seem to have 
taken into account Yeats' mastery of his early style or 
the poetry of Hardy or Housman, but perhaps t h e i r voices 
were obscured by such Decadents as Dowson, Symonds, and 
Wilde, whose celebration of art for art's sake - the 
ivory tower Tennyson had warned against i n "The Palace 
of A r t " seemed to mark the end of an era, even though 
they contributed to the poetry of the era to come when 
they did much to introduce French symbolism into English 
poetry. In America, the sweeping innovations of Whitman 
and the i n c i s i v e wit and suggestiveness of Emily 
Dickinson were l a r g e l y ignored. ...Poetry seemed less 
and less s i g n i f i c a n t i n a world of science, industrialism, 
and middle-class culture. The Decadent's response was 
to e s t a b l i s h a c u l t of Isolated beauty, while at the 
opposite extreme the r e a l i s t i c and n a t u r a l i s t i c novelists 
were making a determined e f f o r t to deal with the actual 
world, as sordid as i t might be.8 

The problem was one of the nature and function of poetry, as i t 

always i s , and i t arose at t h i s time because of a very r e a l sense 

that poetry and l i f e had become bifurcated. On the one hand, the 

pure poets of the f i n de s l e c l e had pushed what seemed the l o g i c a l 

value of art - the esthetic value - to i t s utmost; and, on the 

other hand, there was d a i l y evidence that ' r e a l ' l i f e was based 

upon p r i n c i p l e s wholly foreign to those which created beauty. 

Faced with t h i s overwhelming p o l a r i t y between a dedication to 

beauty and a dedication to l i f e , i t must have seemed evident to 

the young poet of the period that he had to make a choice'. 

•Some poets, l i k e Paul Valery, chose to a f f i r m beauty, even i f 

i t meant a r e j e c t i o n of the 'mainstream* of l i f e : 

I l i v e d among young people for whom art and poetry were 
a kind of e s s e n t i a l nourishment impossible to forego, 
and indeed something more: a supernatural food. In 



34 

those days - some who are s t i l l l i v i n g w i l l remember -
we had the urgent impression that a sort of c u l t or new 
kind of r e l i g i o n was about to be born, that would give 
shape to the quasi-mystical state of mind which reigned 
at that time and which was.inspired i n or communicated 
to us by our extremely intense awareness of the universal 
value of the emotions of Art. 

# , * * 
When one looks back to the youth of that epoch, to 

that time more charged with I n t e l l e c t than the present, 
and to the way i n which we faced l i f e and the knowledge 
of l i f e , one can see that a l l the conditions were present 
for some development or creation almost r e l i g i o u s i n 
character. Indeed, there reigned at that moment a kind 
of d i s i l l u s i o n with philosophic theories, a contempt for 
the promises of science, that had been very i l l i n t e r -
preted by our predecessors and elders, the r e a l i s t and 
n a t u r a l i s t writers. The r e l i g i o u s had experienced the 
assault of p h i l o l o g i c a l and philosophical c r i t i c i s m . 
Metaphysics seemed to have been destroyed by Kant's 
a n a l y s i s . Before us was a white, blank page, and we 
could inscribe on i t only a single affirmation. This 
seemed to us indisputable, being founded neither on a 
t r a d i t i o n , which can always be contested, nor on a 
science, whose generalizations can always be c r i t i c i z e d , 
nor on texts, which can be interpreted at w i l l , nor on 
philosophical reasoning, which l i v e s only on hypothesis. 
Our certainty was i n our emotion and our f e e l i n g for 
beauty.9 

Some of those who made Vale'ry's affirmation f e l l back i n despair -

l i k e the Yeats of my epigraph - while others chose f e a l t y to ' r e a l 1 

l i f e and sought to construct a poetry based upon the p r i n c i p l e s of 

that l i f e - upon psychology or communism or Americanism or 

Catholicism, or* i n short, upon the philosophies and s o c i a l sciences 

which gave that ' r e a l ' l i f e form. What Stevens' response to the 

problem x«fas, however, i s a question xtfiich has provoked, and s t i l l 

provokes c o n f l i c t i n g answers. 

Williams' view of Stevens' steadfast purpose, f o r example, 

implies^that Stevens' did make a response of a kind which denies 

Bradley's assertion that "...the subject of his poetry remains a 

sum of aspects rather than an apotheosis of one or two monolithic 

worlds..." 1 0 yet Bradley's attitude i s one which has long endured 



35 
among Stevens' c r i t i c s , as a comparison of Untermeyer*s early 

comment with Sypher's assessment of Stevens i n mid-career w i l l 

show: 

ItfStevens* poetryjhas much f o r the eye, something for 
the ear, but nothing f o r that central hunger which i s 
at the heart of a l l the senses.H 

Thus l i v i n g i n many sensuous worlds indicates a 
f a i l u r e i n imagination. The supreme f i c t i o n becomes 
f i c t i t i o u s indeed, a dizzy pluralism, a rage for order 
that cannot be spent....12 

The recent tendency, noted by Brown and H a l l e r , for c r i t i c s to 

anchor t h e i r discussions with "the discovery, or rather the 

e x p l o i t a t i o n of themes other than the important one of imagination 

versus reality"13 i s an i n d i c a t i o n that Stevens' c r i t i c s , i n gen-

e r a l , have found the question of Stevens' fixed point of view 

e i t h e r f u t i l e or Impossible to discuss. While these c r i t i c s have 

not reduced Stevens' poetry to mere decoration, as Untermeyer 

would, they have, indeed, committed i t to a "dizzy pluralism" by 

f i n d i n g i n his poems expressions of humanism, e x i s t e n t i a l i s m , 

essentialism, mysticism, realism, and i d e a l i s m l ^ - to name only a 

few of t h e i r discoveries. 

Such a c r i t i c a l reaction was probably inevitable i n view of 

the end r e s u l t of repetitious explorations of the 'important' 

theme "of the imagination versus r e a l i t y . " That r e s u l t was bore-

dom - a boredom expressed by Anthony Hecht i n his complaint against 

"Stevens* esthetic doctrine, which i s so obsessively present on 

almost every page that the reader i s l i k e l y to f e e l badgered by 

the r e l e n t l e s s declaration of a single idea. "15 But the fact 

remains, nonetheless, that both the reaction and the approach 

which caused that reaction are f u t i l e and misdirected as approaches 

to Stevens. Both treat Stevens' poetry as though i t were prose 



36 

and both assume that Stevens' theory of poetry must stand and be 

counted on one side or the other of the philosophical s p l i t which 

I e a r l i e r characterized as the s p l i t between the euhemeristic and 

the hermetic. 

Williams was right i n a t t r i b u t i n g a "steadfast pattern" to 

the poems of Wallace Stevens, and i n the poem which he mentions 

as proof of h i s point there are indications of the nature of that 

pattern and of i t s value as a response to the dilemma of the times 

(I quote only Stanzas I and VI): 

What manner of building s h a l l we build? 
Let us design a chastel de chastete'. 
De pense'e ... 
Never cease to deploy the structure. 
Keep the laborers shouldering p l i n t h s . 
Pass the whole of l i f e earing the c l i n k of the 
Chisels of the stone-cutters cutting the stones. 

And, f i n a l l y , set guardians i n the grounds, 
Gray, gruesome grumblers. 
For no one proud, nor s t i f f , 
No solemn one, nor pale, 
No chafferer, may come 
To s u l l y the begonias, nor vex 
With holy or sublime ado 
The kremlin of kermess. ( OP 1 6 , 18 ) 

I have no intention of explicating "Architecture," beyond noting 

how apropos these two stanzas are to any discussion of the nature 

and mode of existence of Stevens' 'fixed point of view.' The 

a p p l i c a t i o n of the f i r s t stanza i s self-evident; Stevens never 

ceased "to deploy the structure," the interactions and variations 

that make his poetry a harmonious whole and which allowed John Wain 

to describe h i s l a t e r poetry, although somewhat paradoxically, as 

" a fragment broken o f f the monolith of his own d i a l e c t . " 1 6 The 

"guardians" of the s i x t h stanza are, of course, the deliberate 

obscurations discussed i n the introduction to t h i s paper and t h e i r 



37 

purpose i s , as I there suggested, twofold. They are to keep out 

the "chafferer" who would " s u l l y the begonias" and the "solemn 

one" who would "vex/With holy or sublime ado/The kremlin of 

kermess." It i s a shame to translate these characters into ab-

stractions, but so seen, the chafferers are those euhemerists 

who would trample the poetry out of poetry with t h e i r stumblefoot 

c r i t i c i s m , and the solemn ones are those hermeticists who would 

"vex" poets and poetry readers by making the joy of t h e i r esthetic 

contemplation a matter of "holy or sublime ado" - of r e l i g i o u s 

proof. "The kremlin of kermess" means, l i t e r a l l y , the c i t a d e l of 

a c i t y of f e s t i v a l s which derive from feast days of saints: and 

a l l the suggestions contained i n that l i t e r a l meaning are relevant 

- the p o l i t i c a l idea of a place of refuge f o r the populace i n time 

of need and the r e l i g i o u s idea of human celebration of the s p i r i t -

u a l . Translated, the "kremlin of kermess" i s "central poetry": 

i t i s that r e u n i f i c a t i o n of l i f e and beauty which was Stevens' 

response to the dilemma of h i s time. 

The 'theory' of "central poetry" i s somewhat c r y p t i c a l l y 

stated i n Stevens' essay "Effects of Analogy": 

The poet i s constantly concerned with two theories. 
One relates to the imagination as a power within him 
not so much to destroy r e a l i t y at w i l l , as to put i t to 
his own uses. He comes to f e e l that his imagination i s 
not wholly his own but that i t may be part of a much 
larger, much more potent imagination, which i t i s his 
a f f a i r to t r y to get at. For t h i s reason, he pushes on 
and l i v e s , or t r i e s to l i v e , as Paul Valery did, on the 
verge of consciousness. This often r e s u l t s i n poetry 
that i s marginal, subliminal. The same theory exists i n 
r e l a t i o n to prose, to painting and other a r t s . The 
second theory relates to the imagination as a power with-
i n him to have such insights into r e a l i t y as w i l l make 
i t possible for him to be s u f f i c i e n t as a poet i n the 
very center of consciousness. This r e s u l t s , or should 



38 

r e s u l t , i n a central poetry. Dr. Whitehead concluded 
h i s Modes of Thought by saying: 

...the purpose of philosophy i s to r a t i o n a l i z e 
mysticism....Philosophy i s akin to poetry, and 
both of them seek to express that ultimate good 
sense which we term c i v i l i z a t i o n . 

The proponents of the f i r s t theory believe that i t w i l l 
be a part of t h e i r achievement to have created the poetry 
of the future. It may be that the poetry of the future 
w i l l be to poetry of the present what poetry of the 
present i s to the b a l l a d . The proponents of the second 
theory believe that to create the poetry of the present 
i s an Incalculable d i f f i c u l t y , which r a r e l y i s achieved, 
f u l l y and robustly, by anyone. They think that there i s 
enough and more than enough to do with what faces us and 
concerns us d i r e c t l y and that i n poetry as an a r t , and, 
f o r that matter, i n any a r t , the central problem i s 
always the problem of r e a l i t y . The adherents of the 
imagination are mystics to begin with and pass from one 
mysticism to another. The adherents of the central are 
also mystics to begin with. But a l l t h e i r desire and 
a l l t h e i r ambition i s to press away from mysticism toward 
that ultimate good sense which we term c i v i l i z a t i o n . 

(NA 1 1 5 - 1 6 ) 

By i t s e l f , the statement i s a statement of difference; i t s context 

i s a discussion of "apposite" analogies and the concept of "central 

poetry" i s intended as an i l l u s t r a t i o n of "a d i s c i p l i n e of Tight-

ness" (NA 115) with.respect to the creation of those analogies. 

That difference, however, opens up avenues of c r i t i c a l exploration 

which do lead to the full-blown theory upon which the difference, 

and Stevens' poems, depend. 

Before exploring those avenues, i t i s necessary to note that 

the difference between the two theories i s not as clearcut as i t 

might appear. An apparent contradiction i n Northrop Frye's 

explanation of the difference points up the need f o r cautious 

assessment. Frye's explanation begins reasonably enough: (the 

underlining i s mine): 

A t h i r d mode of mental a c t i v i t y , which i s poetic but not 
Stevens' kind of poetry, i s the attempt to suggest or  
evoke universals of mind or substance, to work at the 
threshold of consciousness and produce what Stevens c a l l s 



39 
"marginal" poetry and a s s o c i a t e s with V a l e r y . What-
ever i t s merit such poetry f o r him i s i n c o n t r a s t w i t h 
" c e n t r a l " poetry based on the concrete and p a r t i c u l a r 
act of mental experience. Stevens speaks of the imagina- 
t i o n as moving from the h i e r a t i c to the c r e d i b l e , and  
marginal poetry ...seeks "a hierophant Omega" or u l t i -
mate mystery. ...But f o r the imagination " R e a l i t y i s the  
beginning not the end," "The imperfect i s our paradise ," 
and the only order worth having i s the " v i o l e n t order" 
produced by the e x p l o s i o n of imaginative energy which i s 
a l s o a "great disorder."17 

But, a paragraph l a t e r , he a l t e r s h i s terms and appears to q u a l i f y 
h i s o r i g i n a l assessment: 

However, the imagination does b r i n g something to r e a l i t y  
which i s not there i n the f i r s t p l a c e , hence the imagina- 
t i o n contains an element of the " u n r e a l " which the imag- 
i n a t i v e form i n c o r p o r a t e s . This u n r e a l i s connected w i t h 
the f a c t that conscious experience i s l i b e r a t e d experience. 
The u n r e a l . . . i s the sense of e x h i l a r a t i o n and splendour  
i n a r t , ..."the way of t h i n k i n g by which we p r o j e c t the  
idea of God i n t o the idea of man." ...Although a r t i s i n 
one sense an escape from r e a l i t y ( i . e . , i n the sense i n 
which i t i s an escape of r e a l i t y ) , and although a r t i s a 
heightening of consciousness, i t i s not enough f o r a r t  
simply to give one a v i s i o n of a b e t t e r world. A r t i s  
p r a c t i c a l , not s p e c u l a t i v e ; i m a g i n a t i v e , not f a n t a s t i c ; 
i t transforms experience, and does not merely i n t e r r u p t 
I t . The u n r e a l i n imaginative perception i s most simply  
described as the sense that i f something i s not there  
i t a t l e a s t ought to be there. But t h i s f e e l i n g i n a r t 
i s anything but w i s t f u l ; i t has created the tone of a l l 
the c i v i l i z a t i o n s of h i s t o r y . Thus the " c e n t r a l " poet, 
by working outwards from a beginning instead of onwards 
tox^ards an end, helps to achieve the only genuine k i n d 
of progress. As Stevens says i n a passage which e x p l a i n s 
the ambivalence of the term "mystic" i n h i s work: "The 
adherents of the c e n t r a l are a l s o mystics to begin w i t h . 
But a l l t h e i r d e s i r e and a l l t h e i r ambition i s to press 
away from mysticism toward that u l t i m a t e good sense 
which we term c i v i l i z a t i o n . " 

Such u l t i m a t e good sense depends on p r e s e r v i n g a  
balance between o b j e c t i v e r e a l i t y and the s u b j e c t i v e  
u n r e a l element i n the imagination!"^ 

The a l t e r a t i o n i n terms here i s from t h e o r e t i c d i f f e r e n c e to 
p r a c t i c a l d i f f e r e n c e , but that i s not the c o n t r a d i c t i o n - even 
though i t i s hard to see how an " u n r e a l " of which Prye approves, 
and which he describes by the l i n e "the way of t h i n k i n g by which 



4.0 
we project the idea of God into the idea of man," i s to avoid 

c l a s s i f i c a t i o n as "the attempt to suggest or evoke universals of 

mind or substance." The contradiction occurs when Prye attempts 

to explain the concepts of r e a l i t y and u n r e a l i t y . One has to 

compare Frye's statement that "Stevens speaks of the Imagination 

as moving from the h i e r a t i c to the credible, and marginal poetry 

seeks 'a hierophant Omega' or ultimate mystery" with h i s view of 

the imagination's a c t i v i t y i n the second c i t a t i o n . On the one 

hand, we have the Imagination moving from the unreal to the r e a l 

and on the*other the imagination bringing the unreal to the r e a l 

and judging the r e a l by standards of u n r e a l i t y . On the one hand 

there i s the Frye who says, "But f o r the imagination r e a l i t y i s 

the beginning not the end," and, on the other hand, there i s the 

Frye who says that f o r the imagination u n r e a l i t y i s the beginning 

(since standards of judgement must always precede the thing 

judged): and f i n a l l y , there i s the Frye who resolves the d i f f i -

c u l t y by f a l l i n g back on the preservation of "a balance between 

objective r e a l i t y and the subjective unreal element i n the 

imagination." 

Although Frye i s right i n his d i s t i n c t i o n between p r a c t i c a l 

and speculative a r t , i t i s impossible to c r e d i t h i s discussion of 

the difference between marginal and.central poetry as the f i n a l 

word on the subject f o r two reasons. The primary reason i s that 

neither i n the poems nor the prose does Stevens say what Frye says 

he says. Stevens speaks of "a war between the mind/And sky, between 

thought and day and night." (OP 407) This i s , as I s h a l l show, a 

war between what Frye c a l l s 'the subjective unreal' and 'objective 

r e a l i t y ' ; such a war, for Stevens, was not a war of a t t r i t i o n . The 



difference between the marginal poet and the central poet i s 

that the marginal poet either wins his war, or r e j e c t s the 

necessity for f i g h t i n g , before he writes his poems. The central 

poet wins his war, or attempts to, i n h i s poems. One finds i n 

Stevens* prose and poetry, not a search for a balance, but a 

search for conquest. 

To prove that Stevens ignores Frye's concept of balance i n 

h i s prose i s the subject of a long argument, but i t i s possible to 

introduce that argument by examining the poems from which Frye 

extracted l i n e s to see i f t h e i r meaning, as l i n e s of poetry, cor-

responds to his use of them. One of the l i n e s occurs i n "The 

Poems of Our Climate"; 

"The imperfect i s our paradise.8? (CP 194) 

Frye uses the l i n e to i l l u s t r a t e an opposition between 'Stevens' 

theory' of "violent order" and the marginal poet's concept of 

"order i n terms of f i n a l i t y , as something that keeps receding 

from experience u n t i l experience stops, when i t becomes the mirage 

of an 'after l i f e ' on which a l l hierophants whether poets or 

p r i e s t s depend."19 

O'Connor supports Frye's reading of the l i n e , a l b e i t as the 

r e s u l t of a d i f f e r e n t approach, when he says "...the ideal of 

s i m p l i c i t y , of describing natural objects, however b e a u t i f u l l y 

done, i s not enough. There always remains 'the never resting [sic] 

mind.' The mind i t s e l f wants to create. It has i t s own c r i t e r i a . 

Among them, s u r p r i s i n g l y , i s i t s l i k i n g f o r the imperfect, for 

the 'flawed words, and stubborn sounds.'"20 J J o w O'Connor's 

approach refutes Frye's; i t i s a ' n a t u r a l i s t i c order' which i s 

found wanting i n the poem and not a hierophantic ones 



4.2 
Clear water i n a b r i l l i a n t bowl, 
Pink and white carnations. The l i g h t 
In the room more l i k e a snowy a i r , 
Reflecting snow. A newly f a l l e n snow 
At the end of winter when afternoons return. 
Pink and white carnations - one desires 
So much more than that. The day i t s e l f 
Is s i m p l i f i e d : a bowl of white, 
Cold, a cold porcelain, low and round, 
With nothing more than the carnations there. (CP 193) 

The narrator i s here self-consciously engaged i n an attempt to 

wring meaning out of painstaking description - to write a poem 

of the climate. This much i s evident from the syntax; but It 

should also be evident that the s i m p l i c i t y attained purports to 

be a r e a l and not an ideal s i m p l i c i t y . The color harmony (order) 

of the f i r s t f i v e l i n e s i s an order of something which is there. 

The restatement of that order i n the l a s t three l i n e s constitutes 

a resemblance - between pink and white carnations and the afternoon 

l i g h t on snow and between the bowl and the glaze of snow on the 

earth. Now, to Stevens, resemblance i s -

...one of the s i g n i f i c a n t components of the structure of 
r e a l i t y . It i s s i g n i f i c a n t because . . . I t binds together. 
It i s the base of appearance. In nature, however, the 
r e l a t i o n i s between two or more of the parts of r e a l i t y . 
In metaphor (and this word Is used as a symbol for the 
single aspect of poetry with which we are now concerned -
that i s to say, the creation of resemblance by the 
imagination, even though metamorphosis might be a better 
word) - i n metaphor, the resemblance may be, f i r s t , 
between two or more parts of r e a l i t y ; second, between 
something r e a l and something Imagined or, what i s the 
same thing, between something imagined and something 
r e a l as, f o r example, between music and whatever may be 
evoked by i t ; and, t h i r d , between two imagined things as 
when we say that God i s good, since the statement i n -
volves a resemblance between two concepts, a concept of 
God and a concept of goodness. (NA 72) 

Since the statement of resemblance i n the l a s t three l i n e s i s a 

metaphor (of the f i r s t kind), i t can be assessed by subjecting i t 

to the generalized rules governing the image which Stevens posits 

i n "Effects of Analogy": 



Every image i s the elaboration of a p a r t i c u l a r of the 
subject of the image. (NA 127) 
Every image i s a restatement of the subject of the image 
i n terms of an a t t i t u d e . (NA 128) 
Every image i s an intervention on the part of the image-
maker. It [this generalization]refers to the sense of the 
world, as the second p r i n c i p l e did, and i t could be said 
to be a phase of the second p r i n c i p l e , i f i t did not 
r e f e r to s t y l e i n addition to the sense of the world. 

(NA 128) 

Applied to the resemblance i n "The Poems of Our Climate," 

these technical observations help to bring out the flaw therein. 

The resemblance f a i l s to s a t i s f y or incorporate the narrator's 

desire. It i s a created image and, as such, involves the attitude 

of the creator and his intervention. The trouble i s that the 

attitude and the intervention contradict each other. The nar- • 

rator's sense of the world springs from the presupposition that 

received r e a l i t y - h i s 'climate* - should be enough, and, In 

consequence, his s t y l e i s limited to the description of received 

resemblances - to the poems of h i s climate. In other words, his 

words attempt to disguise themselves as description - attempt to 

pass themselves off as a simple imitation of r e a l i t y . His sense 

of the world i s that i t i s r e a l and should be described, but his 

intervention i s i n words and words are always creation and not 

d e s c r i p t i o n . 

The point of a l l this i s that n a t u r a l i s t i c description not 

only d i s t o r t s the nature of words - i t also f a l s i f i e s r e a l i t y . 

"The day i t s e l f i s s i m p l i f i e d " because the day described i s an 

attitude only - a preconception about r e a l i t y . The point i s 

important because the poem i s about one's sense of words as well 

as one's sense of r e a l i t y and about the r e l a t i o n between those 

two senses. 

The result of the narrator's essay i s the conclusion that 
n U 



ij4 

r e a l i t y i s not to be found by description: 

Say even that t h i s complete s i m p l i c i t y 
Stripped one of a l l one's torments, concealed 
The e v i l l y compounded, v i t a l I 
And made i t fresh i n a world of white, 
A world of clear water, b r i l l i a n t - e d g e d , 
S t i l l one would want more, one would need more, 
More than a world of white and snowy scents. 

I l l 
There would s t i l l remain the never-resting mind, 
So that one would want to escape, come back 
To what had been so long composed. 
The imperfect i s our paradise. 
Note that, i n t h i s bitterness, d e l i g h t , 
Since the imperfect i s so hot i n us, 
Lies i n flawed words and stubborn sounds. (CP 193-194) 

The trouble i s that the mind i s not herein r e j e c t i n g description 

because, as O'Connor suggests, " i t .wants to create" or because of 

" i t s l i k i n g for the imperfect." It rejects description because i t 

Is an exclusive rather than an inclusive creation. But there i s 

no sense of delight i n the second and t h i r d parts of the poem -

no sense of actual release. The impossible ambiguities are pain-

f u l to the narrator and must benumb the reader. What has happened 

i s that the " v i t a l I" has been "evilly-compounded", which means, 

presumably, that i t i s not capable of resting i n any simple 

r e a l i t y because i t s nature i s both of that r e a l i t y and of the 

force which creates that r e a l i t y . The rat that t r i e s to catch i t s 

own t a i l - the snake that swallows i t s e l f . Once the I becomes 

aware of i t s inevitable c r e a t i v i t y , i t r e a l i z e s that i t s creations 

imprison i t i n inadequate compounds. What the."never-resting 

mind" makes one "want to escape" i s the trap of i t s own f i c t i o n -

a l i t y . Note that the intent of such an escape i s to "come back/ 

To what had been so long composed." What i t i s that has been 

composed defies explanation; s u f f i c e i t to note that composed i s 

not compounded, nor i s i t simple. Unlike compounds, compositions 



4/5 

do not destroy the i n d i v i d u a l c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of the things which 

compose them. Unlike a simplex, a composition i s i n c l u s i v e , rather 

than exclusive. F i n a l l y , what has been composed appears not to 

have been composed by the narrator and, i n consequence, appears 

to be composed i n the sense of peacefulness as well. The movement 

of the poem, therefore, appears to be from an attempt to find 

r e a l i t y by dint of one's own creation to an attempt to escape the 

dilemma thereby fostered by finding a larger framework of com-

p o s i t i o n ( i . e . by creating a Creator for the creator and the 

created). L o g i c a l l y , of course, t h i s framework involves the same 

v i c i o u s regress as the simplex, except for one saving grace. 

Such a creation allows the v i t a l I release from e v i l compoundings. 

Thus analysed, the poem supports Frye's marginal concept of 

order rather than his central one or, better, denies that there Is 

an opposition between the two orders so conceived. The f i n a l four 

l i n e s prove the point; the furious v a c i l l a t i o n s therein are ex-

pressions of a "violent order", as Frye suggests, but they are 

also a confession that "order keeps receding from experience u n t i l 

experience stops." Words are not simple one-to-one correspond-

ences of r e a l i t y ; they are "flawed" and "stubborn" - composed of 

creator and created, of r e a l and unreal. What i s important here 

i s that we who create the words are the imperfection that makes 

paradise possible - the b i t t e r who afford d e l i g h t . We are what 

makes possible the " f e a r f u l symmetry" of the absolute; the 

creator i n the created. The "violent order" of the central poet 

i s dynamic and i t s dynamism i s perhaps most c l e a r l y described i n 

terms of the t i t l e to t h i s paper - as o s c i l l a t i o n s between the 

i n d i v i d u a l and the absolute. 



46 
"The Poems of Our Climate" i s a f r i g h t f u l experience when 

read nakedly, and that i s p r e c i s e l y i t s point. To come to a 

sense of "what had been so long composed" as something necessary 

even though not comforting, as something more than a matter of 

concept even though not concretely embodied, i s to experience one 

aspect of the absolute. There are countless aspects. It i s 

appropriate, by way of aside, to note i n connection with "The 

Poems of Our Climate" another aspect brought out by Richard Watson 

i n h i s analysis of "Negation." Watson sees i n the "Creator" of 
the poem " a completely d i f f u s e concept"j21 

In the terms of transcendentalism, this oversoul has 
a s p l i t personality, one part of which i s immanent or 
i n this world, and the other part of which i s trans-
cendental or out of t h i s world. God Is t r y i n g to unify 
himself. ...Because there i s a continuous tendency 
towards unity, the physical d i a l e c t i c (as studied by 
science), the s o c i a l d i a l e c t i c of nations (as studied by 
Hegel and other p o l i t i c a l philosophers), and the i n -
d i v i d u a l d i a l e c t i c (as studied by Freud and Jung) a l l 
present a gigantic attempt to return to the transcenden-
t a l part of the oversoul. 

In "Negation" there i s , in f a c t , a parody of the 
i d e a l i s t i c transcendentalism of Whitman the poet and 
Hegel the philosopher. Hegel postulated an impersonal 
"oversoul" which was also the epitome of consciousness 
and s p i r i t u a l i t y . Stevens, as the t i t l e suggests, takes 
a negative view-point, and says that "The creator too i s 
b l i n d " and has to struggle as we do to achieve i n d i v i d -
uation. . ...The t i t l e , "Negation," suggests more than 
Stevens* negative attitude towards idealism, however. 
There i s a paradox, of which Stevens was most l i k e l y 
aware, a paradox which Kenneth Burke c a l l s the "paradox 
of purity," or "paradox of the absolutes" 

We confront t h i s paradox when deriving the nature 
of the human person from God as "super-person." as 
"pure" or "absolute" person, since God as a super-
person would be impersonal - and the impersonal 
would be synomymous with the negation of personality. 

There i s no denying that the paradox exists i n "Negation," 

just as i t exists i n "The Poems of Our Climate." A comparison of 

the two poems, however, does make i t possible to refute the i n -

tentional misconception, widespread among Stevens' c r i t i c s , that 



4? 

Stevens was a n t i - i d e a l i s t . To employ the transcendentalist 

paradox i n poetry i s not necessarily to either negate or parody 

I t . The way that paradox i s used i s , obviously, the important 

thing. In "The Poems of Our Climate," the paradox of the human 

s i t u a t i o n , of the process of human conception, i s the beginning 

and i t i s only the p o s s i b i l i t y of the transcendency i m p l i c i t i n 

that paradox that makes the human s i t u a t i o n bearable. In 

"Negation," the narrator begins e n t h u s i a s t i c a l l y by c a l l i n g atten-

t i o n to the transcendental paradox, and he ends on a somewhat  

muted note by recognizing the human s i t u a t i o n : 

For t h i s , then, we endure b r i e f l i v e s , 
The evanescent symmetries 
From that meticulous potter's thumb. (CP 98) 

I hate to disagree with Watson on such s l i g h t evidence, but i t 

does seem that the element of parody he notes i s not sustained 

through the whole poem. One has only to contrast the f i n a l three 

l i n e s with the f i r s t seven: 

Hi! The creator too i s b l i n d , 
Struggling toward his harmonious whole, 
Rejecting intermediate parts, 
Horrors and f a l s i t i e s and wrongs; 
Incapable master of a l l force, 
Too vague i d e a l i s t , overwhelmed 
By an a f f l a t u s that p e r s i s t s . (CP 97-98) 

What i s being parodied i n this poem, i f anything, i s not any 

transcendental but a t o t a l l y immanent concept of Godhead. This, 

at l e a s t , i s the kind of concept the narrator announces so 

exuberantly i n the f i r s t l i n e . The syntax, however, suggests a 

movement from presto to andante. The verbal energy of the f i r s t ? i 
three l i n e s gives way to the more forced but less f o r c e f u l energy 

of the emotion behind the r i d i c u l e of l i n e s 4 to 7. The period at 

the end of l i n e 7 i s necessary only for reasons of rhetoric - the 



4 8 

orator's breath i s spent and the energy of exuberance gone. The 

f i n a l three l i n e s are t e r r i b l y slow (one almost feels that exact 

measurement of the difference between the f i r s t three l i n e s and 

the l a s t three might be possible); the parenthetical "then," and 

the a r t i c u l a t o r y q u a l i t i e s of the phrase "that meticulous potter's 

thumb" arrest the pace. The rhythmic changes serve to support a 

view that what happens i n t h i s poem i s that the narrator's 

sense of v i c t o r i o u s release which accompanies h i s newly-discovered 

view of the creator as t o t a l immanence i s negated when he r e a l i z e s 

the implications of his discovery. To reject the transcendental-

i s t paradox i n favor of t o t a l immanence i s to f a i l to make l i f e 

meaningful i n human terms. A l l the narrator has a c t u a l l y ac-

complished i s the substitution of an "evanescent" f o r an 

"absolute" symmetry. This poem i s i r o n i c , but the irony i s d i -

rected toward the narrator primarily, and only secondarily to h i s 

view of the world. 

Frye's other reference to Stevens' poems, i n the passages 

e a r l i e r c i t e d , involves the same d i s t o r t i n g concept of the 

opposition between the ordering p r i n c i p l e s of central poets and 

of marginal poets. The poem involved i s "An Ordinary Evening i n 

New Haven" - s p e c i f i c a l l y section VI: 

Reality i s the beginning not the end, 
Naked Alpha, not the hierophant Omega, 
Of dense i n v e s t i t u r e , with luminous vassals. 
It i s the infant A standing on infant legs, 
Not twisted, stooping, polymathic Z, 
He that kneels always on the edge of space 

In the p a l l i d perceptions of i t s distances. 
Alpha fears men or else Omega's men 
Or else h i s prolongations of the human. 

These characters are around us i n the scene. 



49 
For one i t i s enough; for one i t i s not; 
For neither i s i t profound absentia. 

Since both a l i k e appoint themselves the choice 
Custodians of the glory of the scene, 
The immaculate interpreters of l i f e . 

But that's the difference: i n the end and the way 
To the end. Alpha continues to begin. 
Omega i s refreshed at every end. (CP 469) 

The " r e a l i t y " here, upon which Frye fondly bases his judgement, 

i s delusive; i t i s only one of the many r e a l i t i e s which coalesce 

i n the poem - a poem i n which the f i n a l conclusion 2 3 to the open-

ing intention to add "A few words, an and yet, and yet, and yet -" 

to "The eye's p l a i n version" of r e a l i t y i s -

It i s not i n the premise that r e a l i t y 
Is a s o l i d . It may be a shade that traverses 
A dust, a force that traverses a shade. (CP 498) 

One f i n d s , f o r example, i n section VII, the kind of r e a l i t y one 

thinks of when one talks of realism, a r e a l i t y f i l l e d "With 

l e s s e r things, with things exteriorized/Out of r i g i d r e a l i s t s . " 

(CP 470) This r e a l i t y i s meant as a contrast to the r e a l i t y of 

section VI. It i s true that the narrator of the poem expresses 

h i s f e a l t y to r e a l i t y , but he does not do so i n terms accordant 

with Fryers: 

We seek 
Nothing beyond r e a l i t y . Within i t , 
Everything, the s p i r i t ' s alchemicana 
Included, the s p i r i t that goes roundabout 
And through included, not merely the v i s i b l e , 
The s o l i d , but the movable, the moment, 
The coming on of feasts and the habits of saints, 
The pattern of the heavens and high, night a i r . (CP 47172) 

Faced with such passages, i t i s hard to see how anyone could emerge 

from a reading of "An Ordinary Evening ..." with an intact sense 

of the opposition between r e a l and unreal, or with a concept of 

poetry as the balancing of these forces. The d i s t i n c t i o n Stevens 



50 

makes between r e a l and unreal cuts across the oppositions of  

philosophers and t h e i r schools. To Stevens, what's r e a l i s l i f e , 

which can include p h i l o s o p h i c a l l y r e a l and unreal concepts; what's  

unreal i s anything which Isn't a l i v e . What's r e a l , i n other words 

i s poetry. 

Such statements are true, and serve to define the inadequacy 

of assessing Stevens' terms on purely philosophical grounds, but 

they are not the p o s i t i v e d e f i n i t i o n of "central poetry" I would 

l i k e them to be, because they merely substitute one set of un-

defined terms for another. Nonetheless, a sense of the d i s t i n c t i o n 

i s available i n section X of "An Ordinary Evening...": 

It i s f a t a l i n the moon and empty there. 
But, here, a l l o n s . The enigmatical 
Beauty of each b e a u t i f u l enigma 

Becomes amassed i n a t o t a l double-thing. 
We do not know what Is r e a l and what i s not. 
We say of the moon, i t i s haunted by the man 

Of bronze whose mind was made up and who, there-
fore, died. 

We are not men of bronze and we are not dead. 
His s p i r i t i s imprisoned i n constant change. 

But ours i s not imprisoned. It resides 

In a permanence composed of impermanence.... (CP 472) 

The contrast between t h i s section and section VI, i s the contrast 

between mode of existence and theory which I am about to discuss 

i n r e l a t i o n to Stevens' prose. But, f i r s t , i t should be noted 

that the theory of section VI i s not, as Frye suggests, a theory 

of balances, but a theory of "a t o t a l double-thing" which makes 

poetry possible. Alpha and Omega are not separate beings, despite 

t h e i r disparate appearances. Omega i s "polymathlc" because he 

i s many-knowing as p e r s o n i f i c a t i o n , and because, as alphabetic 

l e t t e r , he i s the sum of a l l l e t t e r s and Alpha's end. Alpha i s 



51 
"naked" (shades of Teufelsdrockh) and "fears men or else Omega's 

men/Or else h i s prolongations of the human" because he Is unper- 

celved r e a l i t y and men's conscious perceptions (which are 

usually conceptions) are the force which transforms him, changes 

him, ages him, into Omega. Whether one analyses Omega, or 

syntheslses Alpha, the difference i s only one of d i r e c t i o n ; as 

"Professor Eucaplyptus said, 'The search/For r e a l i t y i s as mo-

mentous as/The search for God." (CP 481) The"total double thing" 

of Alpha and Omega i s the acnode which one encounters at either 

end of the central poet's philosophical o s c i l l a t i o n . 

The discussion of "The Poems of Our Climate" and "An Ordinary 

Evening..." was twofold i n intent - to give grounds for one of two 

objections to Frye's approach to the question of "central poetry" 

and to indicate the kind of argument about s l i g h t d i s t i n c t i o n s 

that Stevens' concept demands. The second objection to Frye's 

c r i t i c i s m i s an objection to phrasing; i t arises because of Frye's 

d e s c r i p t i o n of "the unreal In imaginative perception" as "the 

sense that i f something i s not there i t at least ought to be there." 

This brings into question the ' r e a l i t y ' of 'the supreme f i c t i o n s * 

which the central poet creates, and which Stevens defines i n "The 

Noble Rider and the Sound of Words": 

There i s , i n f a c t , a world of poetry indistinguishable 
from the world i n which we l i v e , or, I ought to say, 
no doubt, from the world i n which we s h a l l come to l i v e , 
since what makes the poet the potent figure that he i s , 
or was, or ought to be, i s that he creates the world to 
which we turn incessantly and without knowing i t and 
that he gives to l i f e the supreme f i c t i o n s without which 
we are unable to conceive of i t . (NA 31) 

The most d i f f i c u l t thing to avoid i n dealing with Stevens i s h i s 

constant insistence upon the truth of such supreme f i c t i o n s . His 

insistence i s of a kind which brings him within the sphere, 



52 

i r o n i c a l l y , of those believers i n poetic truth castigated by 

I.A. Richards: 

B r i e f l y , i f we can contrive to believe poetry, then the 
world seems, while we do so, to be transfigured. It 
used to be comparatively easy to do t h i s , and the habit 
has become well established. With the extension of 
science and the n e u t r a l i z a t i o n of nature i t has become 
d i f f i c u l t as well as dangerous. Yet i t i s s t i l l a l l u r -
ing; i t has many analogies with drug-taking. ...Various 
subterfuges have been devised along the l i n e s of regard-
ing Poetic Truth as f i g u r a t i v e , symbolic; or as more 
immediate, as a truth of i n t u i t i o n , not of reason; or as 
a higher form of the same truth as reason y i e l d s . Such 
attempts to use poetry as a denial or as a corrective of 
science are very common. One point can be made against 
them a l l ; they are never worked out i n d e t a i l . There i s 
no equivalent to M i l l ' s Logic expounding any such view. 
The language i n which they are framed Is usually a 
blend of obsolete psychology and emotive exclamations.24 

The irony here i s that there are two sides to this question 

of b e l i e f . Both Richards i n his c r i t i c i s m and Stevens i n his 

theory make the contemporary s i t u a t i o n paramount; but Richards 

r e j e c t s the p o s s i b i l i t y of believing i n poetic truth as M a higher 

form of the same truth as reason y i e l d s " because he believes i n 

r e a l i t y . Stevens, on the other hand, rejects the r e a l i t y of the 

contemporary s i t u a t i o n as something to believe i n - he says "A 

possible poet must be a poet capable of r e s i s t i n g or evading the 

pressure of r e a l i t y . . . " (NA 27) - and this makes i t possible f o r 

him to believe i n poetic truth as "a higher form of the same 

truth as reason y i e l d s . " If one can accept the poem "As You 

Leave the Room" as autobiographical, one has ready-made proof of 

the point: 

That poem about the pineapple, the one 
About the mind as never s a t i s f i e d , 

The one about the credible hero, the one 
About summer, are not what skeletons think about. 

I wonder, have I l i v e d a skeleton's l i f e , 



53 

As a d i s b e l i e v e r i n r e a l i t y , 

A countryman of a l l the bones i n the world? 
Now, here, the snow I had forgotten becomes 

Part of a major r e a l i t y , part of 
An appreciation of a r e a l i t y 

And thus an elevation, as i f I l e f t 
With something I could touch, touch every way 

And yet nothing has been changed, except what i s 
Unreal, as i f nothing had been changed at a l l . (OP 1 1 7 ) 2 5 

One can name the poems referred to - "Someone Puts a Pineapple 

Together," "The Well Dressed Man With a Beard," and so on - and 

one can also demonstrate the difference between the r e a l i t y which 

y i e l d s the truth i n which Richards believes and the "major r e a l i t y " 

i n which Stevens believed. One has only to propound, i n p o s i t i v e 

fashion, Stevens* prose statements. 

In the essays of both The Necessary Angel and Opus Posthumous, 

Stevens i s constantly concerned with four implications of the 

theory of "central poetry." The immediate implication of the 

metaphysical or epistemological stature of the theory - "the 

c e n t r a l problem i s always the problem of r e a l i t y " - i s the primary 

burden of "The Imagination as Value" and crops up i n almost a l l 

the essays, including (despite Stevens* statement "I am not 

competent to discuss r e a l i t y as a philosopher" (OP 217) ) "The 

I r r a t i o n a l Element In Poetry." As a consequence of the nature of 

the theory as philosophy there arises a second implication, and 

that i s that "central poetry" must conform to a c e r t a i n mode of 

existence; such a mode Of existence Involves questions of tech-

nique as a minor implication. But the basic implication behind the 

vxhole theory i s that there can be a c e r t a i n kind of poet capable 



54 

of existing " i n the very center of consciousness;" the implications, 

therefore, resolve themselves into questions of the nature of the 

c e n t r a l poet, the grounds of his existence, and his mode of e x i s t -

ence. 

Who i s the central poet? Stevens begins his description of 

"the figure of a youth as v i r i l e poet," i n h i s essay of that name, 

because there i s no d e f i n i t i o n of poetry (NA 43) and the best way 

to account for the fact of poetry i s by saying that " i t i s a 

process of the personality of the poet." This does not mean that 

poetry i s merely expressionism i n the sense of a manifestation of 

ego j 

A r i s t o t l e said: "The poet should say very l i t t l e i n 
propria persona." Without stopping to discuss what 
might be discussed for so long, note that the p r i n c i p l e 
so stated by A r i s t o t l e i s c i t e d i n r e l a t i o n to the point 
that poetry i s a process of the personality of the poet. 
This i s the element, the force, that keeps poetry a 
l i v i n g thing, the modernizing and ever-modern influence. 
The statement that the process does not involve the poet 
as subject, to the extent to which that i s true, pre-
cludes d i r e c t egotism. On the other hand, without i n -
d i r e c t egotism there can be no poetry. There can be no 
poetry without the personality of the poet and that, 
quite simply, i s why the d e f i n i t i o n of poetry has not 
been found and why, i n short, there i s none. (NA 45-56) 

The question of the central poet's i d e n t i t y i s thus an 

important one for Stevens, as i s indicated by the defence he 

provides for his discussion of a "possible poet" i n "The Noble 

Rider and the Sound of Words": 

. . . i f I had been less interested i n t r y i n g to give our 
possible poet an i d e n t i t y and less interested i n t r y i n g 
to appoint him to his p l a c e . . . i t might have been 
thought that I was r h e t o r i c a l , when I was speaking i n 
the simplest way about things of such importance that 
nothing i s more so. A poet's words are of things that 
do not exist without the words. (NA J2) 

What he means i n the f i n a l l i n e of the c i t a t i o n i s analogous to 

what he means by " i n d i r e c t egotism." 



55 

The mind of the poet describes i t s e l f as constantly 
i n his poems as the mind of the sculptor describes 
i t s e l f i n his forms. ...We are t a l k i n g about something 
a good deal more comprehensive than the temperament of 
the a r t i s t that i s usually spoken of. We are concerned 
with the whole personality and, i n e f f e c t , we are saying 
that the poet who writes the heroic poem that w i l l sat-
i s f y a l l there i s of us and a l l of us i n time to come, 
w i l l accomplish i t by the power of h i s reason, the force 
of his imagination and, i n addition, the e f f o r t l e s s and 
Inescapable process of his own i n d i v i d u a l i t y . (NA 46) 

Now a l l t h i s i s r e l a t i v e l y simple and suggests that poems are a 

kind of record of the mind, a proof of the adage that a man i s 

known by what he does. But the edges of t h i s adage become a b i t 

misty when one notes that the r e l a t i o n between a poet and h i s 

poem i s a r e l a t i o n between two unknowns: 

The poet i s able to give i t [any p a r t i c u l a r experience]: 
the form of poetry because poetry i s the medium of hfs 
personal s e n s i b i l i t y . This i s not the same thing as 
saying that a poet writes poetry because he writes 
poetry, although i t sounds much l i k e i t . A poet writes 
poetry because he i s a poet; and he i s not a poet because 
he i s a poet but because of his personal s e n s i b i l i t y . 
What gives a man h i s personal s e n s i b i l i t y I don't know 
and i t does not matter because no one knows. (OP 217) 

Were i t not for the fact that what poetry is_ i s indefinable 

except i n terms of process of personality, there would be nothing 

contradictory about retaining the adage, even a f t e r t h i s laughable 

exercise i n the pedantic manner. Thus one could say that Stevens 

discovered that his s e n s i b i l i t y included the recognition that i c e -

cream has a contradictory taste by expressing the contradiction i n 

terms i n "The Emperor of Ice-Cream." But Stevens' expression of 

the r e l a t i o n between poet and poetry thus f a r i s contradictory 

because the adage applicable i s that what a man does i s known by 

what he i s . 

Poets, says Stevens, "cannot ... be predetermined." (OP 218) 

But what a poet does can be. What poets do i s to transform things; 



56 

transformation i s the process of t h e i r personality: 

To describe i t by exaggerating i t , he shares the 
transformation, not to say apoetheosis, accomplished 
by the poem. It must be t h i s experience that makes him 
think of poetry as possibly a phase of metaphysics.... 

i f 
when we experience a sense of p u r i f i c a t i o n , we can think 
of the establishing of a s e l f , i t i s c e r t a i n that the 
experience of the poet i s of no less a degree than the 
experience of the mystic and we may be c e r t a i n that i n 
the case of poets, the peers of saints, those experiences 
are of no less a degree than the experiences of the saints 
themselves. It i s a question of the nature of the 
experience. It i s not a question of i d e n t i f y i n g or 
r e l a t i n g d i s s i m i l a r figures; that i s to say, i t Is not 
a question of making saints out of poets or poets out of 
saints. (NA 4 9 - 5 1 ) 

In a paper published i n 1 9 5 2 , S i s t e r Quinn pointed out the 

importance of transformation i n Stevens' poetry and the c r u c i a l 

problem i n h i s e s t h e t i c : 

Set against the imagination as shaping s p i r i t i s the 
desire of Stevens expressed with equal vividness, to 
face things as they are. Indeed, his devotion to 
things as they, are i s hard to reconcile with his wish 
to remold them to what they should be. It may be that 
these two contradictory views are merely another i n -
stance of his Heraclitean opposites which fuse into a 
t h i r d and perfect singular - but on the other hand 
t h e i r incompatibility may constitute a c r u c i a l lack of 
c l a r i t y i n his aesthetic... Subtle as Stevens' proposit-
ions are and admirable as i s the i n t r i c a c y with which he 
had devised them...there appear to be basic d i f f i c u l t i e s 
i n his p o s i t i o n , ifhich suggest that the center which he 
seeks i s s t i l l i n the future tense.2 6 

Benamou has recently published a l e t t e r Stevens wrote to S i s t e r 

Quinn i n 19^9 which suggests that her statement of the problem has 

i t s authority: 

...I do not want to turn to stone under your very eyes 
by saying "This i s the centre that I seek and t h i s aim." 
Your mind i s too much l i k e my own for i t to seem an 
evasion on my part to say merely that I do seek a centre 
and expect to go on seeking i t . I don't say that I 
s h a l l not f i n d i t as that I do not expect to f i n d i t . 
It i s the great necessity even without s p e c i f i c i d e n t i f -
i c a t i o n . 2 7 

The center i s that place wherein i s and should be are one - where 



57 

conception equals perception and the poet equals what he does. 

I t i s possible to understand the nisus a f t e r t h i s center by-

disposing of two c r i t i c a l reactions to the question of the s t r i v -

ing personality. 

The f i r s t of these reactions to transformation i s given voice 

by Ralph Nash; "...we have here a concept of poetry as an approach 

to the center of r e a l i t y , an ascent through i l l u s i o n past hordes 

of destructions, a r r i v i n g at l a s t at 'what we wanted fact to be.' 

This v a t i c concept necessitates a v a t i c f a i t h i n the figure of 

the poet. ...His godhead i s the nimbus of Imagination."28 

Nash's view would be acceptable, were i t not that one of the 

'hordes of i l l u s i o n s ' which Stevens' rejects i s p r e c i s e l y t h i s 

v a t i c concept of the imaginationj 

It i s important to believe that the v i s i b l e i s the 
equivalent of the i n v i s i b l e ; and once we believe i t , 
we have destroyed the Imagination; that i s to say, we 
have destroyed the f a l s e imagination, the f a l s e con-
ception of the imagination as some incalculable vates 
within us, unhappy Rodomontade. (NA 60) 

Stevens* avoidance of the vatic concept i s the r e s u l t of his desire 

to a f f i r m the r e a l i t y of transformations i n poetry. The vatic poet, 

who owes his f e a l t y to his v i s i o n , i s imprisoned too often i n h i s 

prophecy. He i s committed to that which does not yet e x i s t ; he 

i s a marginal poet. Stevens i s always meticulous i n making the 

d i s t i n c t i o n between the marginal and the central poet; note, f o r 

example, that though he equates the experience of the poet with 

the experience of mystics and saints, he c a r e f u l l y disclaims any 

s i m i l a r i t y among the experiencers. 

The second view to be dismissed i s a natural c o r o l l o r y of 

the f i r s t . It i s a view expressed by Mary Colums 

It seems to us that what Wallace Stevens i s r e a l l y 



58 

concerned with i s the r e l a t i o n between one man's 
consciousness and the world, but a world i n which 
humanity and i t s problems, desires and affections have 
hardly any place. 2 9 

S u p e r f i c i a l l y , of course, t h i s c r i t i c i s m springs from the same 

kind of euhemeristic concern described e a r l i e r , but that i s not 

i t s point. The fact that Stevens denied that the poet possessed 

s o c i a l r e s p o n s i b i l i t y (NA 27), which i n humanist terms means the 

r e s p o n s i b i l i t y of grappling with the immediate and s i g n i f i c a n t 

problems faced by s o c i a l man, must reduce h i s poems, i n the eyes 

of euhemerist c r i t i c s , to what Powys terms "bizarre ornamentation."30 

The now famous a r t i c l e written by Stanley Burnshaw31 has received 

i t s reply i n "Owl's Clover" and such r e s t r i c t i v e views are no 

longer important except as matters of s o c i a l h i s t o r y . What i s 

important about Mary Colum< 's c r i t i c i s m i s that i t points out the 

r i s k run by any poet who rejects vatic authority and s t i l l wants 

to t a l k about r e a l i t i e s whose presence on the scene i s not im-

mediately obvious!. The point about prophets i s that they don't 

have to depend upon r e a l i t y to do t h e i r bidding u n t i l a f t e r they 

are dead while central poets are committed to proving t h e i r v i s i o n -

ary experiences right now. Her c r i t i c i s m , then, i s a c o r o l l a r y 

of Nash's because i t implies that unauthorized visions are sub-

j e c t i v e i l l u s i o n s . 

The easiest way to escape the charge of s u b j e c t i v i t y , of 

course, i s not to have any visions and to experience no trans-

formations. It has already been determined that such a course i s 

impossible f o r Stevens. "Central poetry" i s transformation and the 

sense of transformation i s intended to be public and not merely 

p r i v a t e . "The measure of the poet i s the measure of h i s sense of 

the world and of the extent to which i t involves the sense of other 



59 

people" (NA 123-24); 

He w i l l consider that although he himself witnessed, 
during the long period of h i s l i f e , a general t r a n s i -
t i o n to r e a l i t y , his own measure as a poet, i n spite 
of a l l the passions of a l l the lovers of truth, i s the 
measure of his power to abstract himself, and to with-
draw Tfith him into h i s abstraction the r e a l i t y on which 
the lovers of truth i n s i s t . He must be able to abstract 
himself and also to abstract r e a l i t y , which he does by 
placing i t i n h i s imagination. (NA 2 3 ) 

"Abstraction" i s one of the key terms i n Stevens' theory and one 

aspect of i t s meaning f o r him involves the adherence to contem-

poraneous r e a l i t y . "It i s one of the p e c u l i a r i t i e s of the imag-

i n a t i o n that i t i s always at the end of an era. What happens i s 

that i t i s always attaching i t s e l f to a new r e a l i t y , and adhering 

to i t . It i s not that there i s a new imagination but that there 

i s a new r e a l i t y . " (NA 2 2 ) What makes abstraction necessary i s 

that the adherence to r e a l i t y spawns pressures which must be 

r e s i s t e d or avoided: 

By the pressure of r e a l i t y , I mean the pressure of an 
external event or events on the consciousness to the 
exclusion of any power of contemplation. (NA 2 0 ) 

It i s precisely t h i s abstractive power, the power of contemplation 

that i s the poet's b i r t h r i g h t , or at least h i s karma; and i t s 

p r a c t i c a l r e s u l t i s poetry: 

The trouble i s that the greater the pressure of the 
contemporaneous, the greater the resistance. Resist-
ance i s the opposite of escape. The poet who wishes 
to contemplate good i n the midst of confusion i s l i k e 
the mystic who wishes to contemplate God i n the midst 
of e v i l . There can be no thought of escape. Both the 
poet and the mystic may establish themselves on herrings 
and apples...The only possible resistance to the pres-
sure of the contemporaneous i s a matter of herrings and 
apples, or, to be less d e f i n i t e , the contemporaneous 
i t s e l f . In poetry, to that extent, the subject i s not 
the contemporaneous, because that i s only the nominal 
subject, but the poetry of the contemporaneous. Resist-
ance to the pressure of ominous and destructive c i r -
cumstance consists of i t s conversion, so far as possible, 
into a d i f f e r e n t , an explicable, an amenable 



6o 

circumstance. (OP 225) 

The poem "Mozart, 1 9 3 5 " provides a p r a c t i c a l example of the 

nature and purpose of the poet's abstract adherence to r e a l i t y . 

The key stanza i s the t h i r d : 

That l u c i d souvenir of the past, 
The divertimento; 
That a i r y dream of the future, 
The unclouded concerto... 
The snow i s f a l l i n g . 
Strike the piercing chord. (CP 132) 

The poem i s not, as Benamou suggests,3 2 a parody of romantic tenets. 

Frankenburg's comment i s closer to the t r u t h : 

By observing the present t r u l y and intensely enough, 
the poet may hope, symbolically, to resolve i t s con-
f l i c t s . ...He i s not the p o l i t i c i a n s * c o l l e c t i v e "you," 
but the a r t i s t ' s singular "thou. ••33 

But more than symbolic resolutions are at issue i n the poem, and 

the poet's i d e n t i t y i s not as simple as Frankenburg suggests. 

The poet i s an 'ephebe' under the i n s t r u c t i o n of a music master, 

who t e l l s him, i n e f f e c t , to become the voice of the mass: 

Be thou the voice," 
Not you. Be thou, be thou 
The voice of angry fear, 
The voice of t h i s besieging pain. 
Be thou that wintry sound 
As of a great wind howling, 
By which sorrow i s released, 
Dismissed, absolved 
In a starry placating. 

We may return to Mozart (CP 132) 

The images of winter and wind i n the poem reinforce the analogy 

implied i n the t i t l e . Mozart's society was occupied with the 

p a r t i t i o n of Poland; i n 1935» the same wrenching of s o c i a l order 

was evident, both i n the rebellious s t i r r i n g s of the depression 

and i n Germany's occupation of the Saar. In the midst of his 



61 

chaos, Mozart established the concerto, a t o t a l form completely 

opposite i n concept and significance to the decorative diver-

timento, yet a form giving f u l l expression to the solo instruments. 

That the music master of the present should consider "The un-

clouded concerto" an "airy dream of the future" i s a fact which 

indicates his concept of the function of "thou." The poet, as 

"thou," unclouds the concerto by, l i t e r a l l y , blowing away the 

clouds from which snow i s f a l l i n g and thereby absolving sorrow i n 

"a starry placating" - an unclouded concerto. To do so, he must 

practice "arpeggios" composed i n the present: 

Play the present, i t s hoo-hoo-hoo, 
Its shoo-shoo-shoo, i t s r i c - a - n i c , 
Its envious cachinnation. (CP 131) 

The point of the "arpeggios" i s that they manifest an order which 

i s capable of becoming a part of that t o t a l harmony which i s the 

concerto, though at the same time they r e f l e c t r e a l i t y , the sense 

of l i v i n g i n the world. The poet must discover the order of the 

present and harmonize i t with the order of the future - with t o t a l 

order. "...when we think of arpeggios, we think of opening 

wings...."(NA 80). Such an order cannot be purely h i s own; diver-

tlmenti are no longer adequate, because the "greater the pressure 

of the contemporaneous,- the greater the resistance." 

The tone of the music master i n the poem i s a study of the 

way i t sounds to ' r e s i s t the pressure of r e a l i t y . • 

I f they throw stones upon the roof 
While you practice arpeggios, 
It i s because they carry down the s t a i r s 
A body i n rags. 
Be seated at the piano. (CP 131-32) 

The balance established here i s not dependent on a pose of complete 



62 

indifference to the world (the body's possible i d e n t i t y i s too 

ominously suggested for that). It i s a tone expressive of 

"...the r e l a t i o n between the v i v i d conception of great e v i l s , and 

that s e l f - a s s e r t i o n of the soul which gives the emotion of the 

sublime..." 3 4 what affords sublimity i n the context of the poem 

i s that i t may be possible "to return to Mozart." The difference 

between the poet and those who "throw stones on the roof" i s one 

of d i r e c t i o n . The poet partakes of the present fear, but he 

attempts to transcend i t s destructive force by making i t a part 

of the sublime. In the process, he himself i s transformed; he 

abstracts himself from the personal consequences of the present 

fear and contemplates i t from an absolute perspective - Mozart's 

t o t a l harmony. 

With the example of "Mozart, 1935" In mind, i t i s easy to see 

how abstraction, as a process, becomes a matter f o r philosophical 

proof. The t r a n s i t o r y nature of sublime states, even for those 

capable of experiencing them, was a l l too evident even before 

1935- MacLeish's e a r l i e r poem, "Men of My Century Loved Mozart," 

stresses how ethereal the dream of the music master had become: 

Never did we hear Mozart but the mind, 
Fished from i t s feeding i n some weedy deep, 
And wound i n web that must more c l o s e l y bind 
The more i t altered from i t s e l f , would keep 
One moment i n that bond i t s perfect kind -

Never, when we would question i t , but shone 
Through breaking cordage s i l v e r and the god was gone. 35 

The questions - the pressures of contemporaneous r e a l i t y - are 

many and unless the central poet can o f f e r some answer, i t i s 

doubtful i f many who share the fears of the present w i l l rest 

s a t i s f i e d with q u i c k s i l v e r as t h e i r catholicon. The questions the 

narrator asks i n "The American Sublime" - Stevens' companion poem 



63 

to "Mozart, 1935" - are e s s e n t i a l : 

How does one stand 
To behold the sublime, 
To confront the mockers, 
The mickey mockers 
And plated pairs? 

What wine does one drink? 
What bread does one eat? (CP 130-31) 

The wine and bread are, of course, the body and blood - the common-

place things which take on transcendent r e a l i t y and a s s i s t s p i r i t -

u a l communion. (In t h i s context, one can speculatively explain 

"The mickey mockers/And plated p a i r s " i n terms of the I r i s h 

Americans whose act of communion i s somewhat f a l s i f i e d by a stomach 

f u l l of Saturday night's booze and i n terms of the opposition 

between man and god that becomes the permanent meaning of the 

r i t u a l instead of the o r i g i n a l intent of the r i t u a l as a breaking 

down of p a i r s ) . 

What has happened to the American sublime i s that an opposi-

t i o n has been enforced between s p i r i t and substance, between the 

r e a l and the unreal: 
When General Jackson 
Posed for his statue 
He knew how one f e e l s . 
Shall a man go barefoot 
Blinking and blank? 

But hoxf does one f e e l ? 
One grows used to the weather, 
The landscape and that; 
And the sublime comes down 
To the s p i r i t i t s e l f , 

The s p i r i t and space, 
The empty s p i r i t 
In vacant space. (CP 130-31) 

General Jackson posed because he f e l t the need for some embodiment 

of his s p i r i t - of his sense of the sublime meaning of his l i f e . 

But that embodiment turned out to be the statue " . . . i n Lafayette 



64 
Square... of Andrew Jackson, r i d i n g a horse with one of the most 

b e a u t i f u l t a i l s i n the world" (NA 10), a statue of which Stevens 

saidj 

Treating this work as t y p i c a l , i t i s obvious that the 
American w i l l as a p r i n c i p l e of the mind's being i s 
e a s i l y s a t i s f i e d i n i t s e f f o r t s to r e a l i z e i t s e l f i n 
knowing i t s e l f . . . . A glance at i t shows i t to be unreal. 
The bearing of t h i s i s that there can be works, and t h i s 
includes poems, i n which neither the imagination nor 
r e a l i t y i s present. (NA 11) 

One of the pressures of present r e a l i t y i s the tendency to make 

the s p i r i t incredible and therby deny i t a home i n r e a l i t y . But 

the f u l l s p i r i t i s one f i l l e d with a sublime sense of a l i f e l i v e d 

i n r e a l i t y ; and the central poet i s one who must f i n d again i n 

t h i s l i f e the 'sanctions' of the s p i r i t and of i t s v i s i o n s . 

It should be obvious by now that the central poet i s not 

content with either the h i e r a t i c or the subjective. What he wants 

i s to make the h i e r a t i c credible . It i s not simply a matter, as 

Frye suggests when he says that "Stevens speaks of the imagination 

as moving from the h i e r a t i c to the credible,"36 G f giving up one 

thing i n favor of another. The f u l l c i t a t i o n of the passage to 

which Frye refers proves that: 

Summed up, our p o s i t i o n at the moment i s that the poet 
must get r i d of the h i e r a t i c i n everything that concerns 
him and must move constantly i n the d i r e c t i o n of the 
credible. He must create his unreal out of what i s 
r e a l . (NA 58) 

That this i s only a momentary p o s i t i o n , a sort of i n i t i a l stage 

of the " v i r i l e poet's" i n i t i a t i o n into the mysteries, i s evident 

from the progressive nature of his devotion to his muse. In t h i s 

i n i t i a l state, he feels no need of the trappings of metaphysics 

(NA 59) (the f i r s t underlining i s mine): 

What we have c a l l e d elevation and e l a t i o n on the part 



65 

of the poet, which he communicates to the reader, may-
be not so much elevation as an incandescence of the 
i n t e l l i g e n c e and so more than ever a triumph over the 
i n c r e d i b l e . Here as part of the p u r i f i c a t i o n a l l of us  
undergo as we approach any central purity, and that we 
f e e l i n i t s presence, vre can say: 

No longer do I believe that there i s a mystic muse, 
s i s t e r of the Minotaur. This i s another of the  
monsters I had f o r nurse, whom I have wasted. I am  
myself a part of what i s r e a l , and i t i s my own  
speech and the strength of I t , t h i s only, that I  
hear or ever s h a l l . (NA 60) 

Why i t should be Ariadne who he rejects i s a matter for l a t e r 

conjecture. Note only that i n t h i s state of p u r i f i c a t i o n the poet 

has come to i d e n t i f y poetic truth with f a c t . "But i f poetic truth 

means fact and i f fact includes the whole of i t as i t i s betx^een 

the extreme poles of s e n s i b i l i t y , we are talking about a thing as 

extensible as i t i s ambiguous." (NA 60) This i d e n t i f i c a t i o n 

enables him to wash "the imagination clean" (NA 6 l ) . But he i s 

faced now with a decision - "At what l e v e l of the truth s h a l l he 

compose his poems?" (NA 6 l ) 

This question concerns the function of the poet today 
and tomorrow, but makes no pretence beyond. He i s able 
to read the i n s c r i p t i o n on the portal and he repeats: 

I am myself a part of what i s r e a l and i t i s my  
own speech and the strength of i t , t h i s only, that  
I hear or ever s h a l l . 

He says, so that we can a l l hear him: 
I am the truth, since I am part of what Is r e a l , 
but neither more nor less than those around me. 
And I am Imagination, i n a leaden time and i n a  
world that does not move for the weight of i t s own  
heaviness. 

Can there be the s l i g h t e s t doubt what the decision w i l l 
be? Can we suppose for a moment that he w i l l be content 
merely to copy Katahdin, when with his sense of the 
heaviness of the world, he feels his own power to l i f t , 
or help to l i f t , that heaviness away? (NA 6 2 - 6 3 ) 

This statement of dedication from the p u r i f i e d poet has much i n i t 

to make one think of the dominant images i n Stevens' poems. 

Katahdin, for example, i s the highest mountain i n Maine, and one 

finds i n "The Poem That Took the Place of a Mountain" (CP 512) 



66 

the accomplishment of the poet's purpose; just as one finds i n 

"Credences of Summer" his movement towards the f u l f i l l m e n t of 

that purpose: 

The rock cannot be broken. It i s the t r u t h . 
It r i s e s from land and sea and covers them. 
It i s a mountain half-way green and then, 
The other immeasurable h a l f , such rock 
As placid a i r becomes. (CP 375) 

In t h i s second, or purposeful stage, the poet discovers that -

Poetry i s the imagination of l i f e . A poem i s a p a r t i c -
ular of l i f e thought of for so long that one's thought 
has become an inseparable part of i t or a p a r t i c u l a r of 
l i f e so Intensely f e l t that the f e e l i n g has entered into 
i t . When, therefore, we say that the world i s a compact 
of r e a l things so l i k e the unreal things of the imagina-
t i o n that they are indistinguishable from one another... 
we have a sense that we l i v e i n the center of a physical 
poetry, a geography that would be intolerable except for 
the non-geography that exists there.... (NA 6 5 - 6 6 ) 

It i s this discovery that makes the poet v i r i l e . 

...for the poet, the imagination i s paramount, and i f 
he dwells apart i n his imagination, as the philosopher 
dwells i n h i s reason, and as the priest dwells i n h i s 
b e l i e f , the masculine nature that we propose for. one 
that must be the master of our l i v e s w i l l be l o s t . . . As 
we say these things, there begins to develop ... an i n -
timation of what he i s thinking as he r e f l e c t s on the 
imagination of l i f e , determined to be i t s master and ours. 
He i s thinking of those facts of experience of which a l l 
of us have thought and which a l l of us have f e l t with 
such i n t e n s i t y , and he says: 

Inexplicable s i s t e r of the Minotaur, enigma and  
mask, although I am part of what i s r e a l , hear me  
and recognise me as part of the unreal. I am the  
truth but the truth of that imagination of l i f e i n  
which'with unfamiliar motion and manner you guide  
me i n those exchanges of speech i n which your words  
are mine, mine yours. (NA 6~6-67) 

What such an o s c i l l a t o r y movement on the part of the poet 

accomplishes, and how i t i s accomplished, are pertinent questions. 

E s s e n t i a l l y , of course, the poet has moved from a philosophical 

view of r e a l i t y to a 'poetic' one and i n the process has wit-

nessed the reviviscence of his muse. The parts Stevens has muse 



6 7 

and poet play are an interesting i n d i c a t i o n of the transcendental 

nature of the resurrection. In the beginning of t h e i r person-

i f i c a t i o n , the muse had been Ariadne only vaguely and the poet a 

brash sort of Aeneas just about to wander: 

In e f f e c t , what we are remembering i s the rather 
haggard background of the incredible, the imagination 
without i n t e l l i g e n c e , from which a younger figure i s 
emerging, stepping forward i n the company of a muse of 
i t s own, s t i l l half-beast and somehow more than human, 
a kind of s i s t e r of the Minotaur. This younger figure 
i s the i n t e l l i g e n c e that endures. It i s the imagination 
of the son s t i l l bearing the antique imagination of the 
father. It i s the c l e a r Intelligence of the young man 
s t i l l bearing the burden of the obscurities of the 
i n t e l l i g e n c e of the old. It i s the s p i r i t out of i t s 
own s e l f , not out of some surrounding myth, delineating 
with accurate speech the complications of which i t i s 
composed. For t h i s Aeneas, i t i s the past that i s 
Anchises. (NA 5 2 - 5 3 ) 

I f one accepts these personae as 'accurate delineations' of the 

nature of the central poet, one has a mixed semi-myth which, when 

unravelled, reveals what the poet's movement accomplishes. 

Anchises was blighted with paralysis because he boasted about 

h i s union with Venus, and Aeneas was forced to carry him on his 

shoulders when they f l e d from Troy. But Aeneas, warned by his 

father's fate, escapes the charms of Dido i n order to establish 

c i v i l i z a t i o n : 

...when the earth i s v e i l e d i n shadow 
And the f i e r y stars are burning, I see my father, 
Anchises, or his ghost, and I am frightened; 
I am troubled for the wrong I do my son, 
Cheating him out of his kingdom i n the west, 
And lands that fate assigns him. 3 7 

The mistake of the father was to place more importance i n the love 

of the goddess than i n his earthly task. But Aeneas, who takes up 

that task, i s to establish a c i v i l i z a t i o n more l i k e the C i t y of 

God than h i s t o r i c a l Rome - a home for the p u r i f i e d heroes - where 

the shades of Elysium become the sustaining s p i r i t s of l i f e : 



68 

the "image" of Anchises makes t h i s c l e a r when Aeneas v i s i t s the 

underworld: 

Anchises answers: - "These are s p i r i t s , ready-
Once more for l i f e ; they drink of Lethe's water 
The soothing potion of forgetfulness. 
I have longed, for long, to show them to you, name them, 
Our children's children; I t a l y discovered, 
So much the greater happiness, my son." 
"But, 0 my father, i s i t thinkable 
That souls would leave t h i s blessedness, be w i l l i n g 
A second time to bear the sluggish body, 
Trade Paradise f o r earth? Alas, poor wretches, 
Why such a mad desire for l i g h t ? " Anchises 
Gives detailed answer: " F i r s t , my son, a s p i r i t 
Sustains a l l matter, heaven and earth and ocean, 
The moon, the stars; mind quickens mass, and moves i t . 
Hence comes the race of man, of beast, of winged 
Creatures of the a i r , of the strange shapes which ocean 
Bears down below h i s mottled marble surface. 
A l l these are blessed with the energy of heaven; 
The seed of l i f e i s a spark of f i r e . . . . 3 8 

Thus f a r , the persona of Aeneas i s appropriate to the central 

poet whose main purpose i t was to reach "that ultimate good sense 

which we term c i v i l i z a t i o n . " (NA 116) The persona helps to define 

c i v i l i z a t i o n . But Ariadne i s another myth. It i s true that she 

appears as ob.jet d'arte i n the Apollonian temple b u i l t by 

Daedalus which i s the s t a r t i n g place of Aeneas' search for the 

portals to the underworld, but her presence i n Stevens* l i t t l e 

drama seems to be ascribable to his need for a transcendent 

analogy to Dido. Like Dido, Ariadne i s deserted by her betrothed 

hero (Theseus), and, l i k e Dido, she commits suicide (though by 

hanging rather than drowning). But unlike Dido, Ariadne ends up, 

by v i r t u e of the complications of myth, as fecund wife of the one 

god above a l l who offered man a divine g i f t to serve as substratum 

of his c i v i l i z a t i o n - Dionysus who gave man the vine. In the end, 

Ariadne dwells i n the temples b u i l t by a Theseus repentant while 

Dido i s doomed to walk the wasteland of the Stygian shore. 



69 

Though the analogy does have transcendent p o t e n t i a l and i s 

permissable (both Dido and Ariadne are versions of Astarte and 

thus of Graves' White Goddess), Stevens' treatment of Ariadne i s 

confusing. At the beginning of the poet's progress, she i s only 

vaguely the Ariadne of c l a s s i c a l myth. Rather than a princess 

whose p a t r i l i n e a l descent i s from Zeus (through Minos), Stevens 

has a figure " s t i l l half-beast and somehow more than human." 

She i s , i n other words, f u l l s i s t e r to the Minotaur. The only way 

to explain t h i s fact i s by speculating about the function of 

Stevens' images. The " v i r i l e " poet i s situated i n modern r e a l i t y 

and therefore must accept his muse as he finds her. The modern 

view of c l a s s i c a l myth i s one which tends to reduce mythical 

d i v i n i t y into b e s t i a l i t y . To say that the Greek gods were pan-

t h e i s t i c i s to say that they were mere representations of, or 

superstitions about, natural forces - those "facts of experience" 

which are no longer an "enigma" and are explicable now i n terms of 

science. The poet must dispose of t h i s mutilated corpse, whose 

d i v i n i t y was denied and who therefore died, i n order to e f f e c t a 

reincarnation. The reincarnation i_s of d i v i n i t y , and i s made pos-

s i b l e because the poet has probed the "facts of experience" and 

found i n t h e i r strange transformations an "enigma" s t i l l - a 

force at work which i s not to be explained except by recognition 

of the true nature of the masks of the absolute. 

Apropos to this view of what the central poet's i n i t i a t i o n 

accomplishes, i s the fact that there i s , i n the Louvre,3 9 a b e l l -

shaped Ariadne d o l l whose function was the same as that of the 

o s c l l l a of I t a l y - to hang In a tree as a mask of God and speak 

the speech of the wind. In the poet's f i n a l awareness of her, 



70 

Ariadne i s just such a mask. She i s the poetry of the poem; her 

mask i s the poem fashioned by human hands and she "shares" the 

poet's words. The o s c i l l a t i o n s of the mask i t i s the poet's 

purpose to create catch the accordant descant of the ineffable -

the o s c i l l a t i o n s of the absolute. 

What the poet accomplishes i n his o s c i l l a t i o n , then, i s the 

resurrection of the dead h i e r a t i c as the l i v i n g credible. How he 

accomplishes i t i s , however, a much knottier matter. But a clue 

may be provided by the invocatory "To the One of P i c t i v e Music." 

The poem i s not necessarily the utterance of Stevens' voice, nor 

i s "the one of f i c t i v e music" s o l e l y Ariadne, though she Is 

suggested pretty c l e a r l y i n her role as L i b e r i a - goddess of the 

vine and consort to Dionysus, whose chaplet, "made by Hephaestus 

of f i e r y gold and red Indian gems, set i n the shape of roses,"^0 

i s the Corona Borealisj 

0 bough and bush and scented vine, i n whom 
We give ourselves our l i k e s t issuance. 

On your pale head wear 
A band entwining, set with f a t a l stones. (CP 88) 

But there i s a p a r a l l e l between the ' v i r i l e ' poet's r e l a t i o n to 

h i s muse and that between the narrator of the poem and the 

composite figure who i s "the one of f i c t i v e music." 

Benamou sees i n t h i s poem the ironic treatment of "Romantic 

intoning,"^1 and McPadden a statement of "Flaccid romanticism."42 

Both views, though opposed, are f a r from the truth. McFadden's 

comment i s one of those easy rejections c r i t i c s too often make 

en passant and can be i t s e l f subjected to the same treatment. 

But Benamou's interpretation contains, at l e a s t , the sense that 

there i s some kind of opposition i n the poem; according to i t , 



71 
the e u l o g i s t i c description of l i n e s 2 to 6 are to be taken as 

examples of romantic hyperbole and l i n e 9 as an i r o n i c d e f l a t i o n : 

S i s t e r and mother and diviner love, 
And of the sisterhood of the l i v i n g dead 
Most near, most c l e a r , and of the clearest bloom, 
And of the fragrant mothers the most dear 
And queen, and of d i v i n e r love -the day 
And flame and summer and sweet f i r e , no thread 
Of cloudy s i l v e r sprinkles i n your gown 
Its venom of renown, and on your head 
No crown i s simpler than the simple h a i r . (CP 87) 

Benamou doesn't r e f e r to the rest of the poem; presumably he 

would make of the next three stanzas a continuation of the de-

f l a t i o n . But i f his view of l i n e 9 i s correct, why should the 

second stanza end with reference to "laborious weaving" and why 

should the narrator ask that the figure wear "A band entwining, 

set with f a t a l stones"? 

No, the opposition i s not between the wrong romantic and the 

r i g h t r e a l i s t i c , but between the muse too humanized and the muse 

transcendent. In e f f e c t , the poem is a poet's plea f o r the boon 

of imagination which only the transcendent muse of the fourth 

stanza can give: 

Unreal, give back to us what once you gave: 

The imagination that we spurned and crave. (CP 88) 

Note that t h i s plea i s f o r a second giving of the g i f t : "the one 

of f i c t i v e music" had given men imagination, they had spurned i t , 

and they now crave i t again. The nature of t h i s spurning i s 

c l e a r l y defined i n the second and t h i r d stanzas: 
Now, of the music summoned by the b i r t h 
That separates us from the wind and sea, 
Yet leaves us i n them, u n t i l earth becomes, 
By being so much of the things we are, 
Gross e f f i g y and simulacrum, none 
Gives motion to perfection more serene 
Than yours, out of our imperfections wrought, 
Most rare, or ever of more kindred a i r 
In the laborious weaving that you wear. 



72 

For so retentive of themselves are men 
That music i s intensest which proclaims 
The near, the c l e a r , and vaunts the clearest bloom, 
And of a l l v i g i l s musing the obscure, 
That apprehends the most itfhich sees and names, 
As i n your name, an image that i s sure, 
Among the arrant spices of the sun, 
0 bough and bush and scented vine, i n whom 
We give ourselves our l i k e s t issuance. (CP 87-88) 

The grievous error men have committed i s primarily that they have 

invested t h e i r imagination i n fixed concepts of r e a l i t y , i n "The 

near, the c l e a r , " i n extensions of themselves. Like the woman 

who spends a l l her time buttering a lingam, men have mistaken 

the object of t h e i r desire; they have substituted t h e i r names f o r 

the known, t h e i r images for the i n e f f a b l e , t h e i r masks f o r the 

masks of the absolute. It i s the old problem of the creator 

and the created once again, here seen i n terms of the poet's 

creations of a creator. . His i n i t i a l images of "the one of f i c t i v e 

music," including l i n e 9 , are, l i k e the "Gross e f f i g y and simula-

crum" of an earth too amenable to the manipulation of human pur-

pose, traps to catch the imagination i n concrete bodies. They 

are expressive of the poet's insistence that she i s related to 

him i n human fashion. Despite the grand language, the whole 

e f f o r t of the poet i s bent on getting r i d of the "thread/Of 

cloudy s i l v e r " with "Its venom of renown" and substituting the 

humanized figure whose r e l a t i o n to the poet i s made conclusive by 

"the simple h a i r " with which he adorns her. Benamou i s quite 

r i g h t about the intoning, but l i n e 9 Is the culmination, not the 

r e j e c t i o n , of that intoning. 

The a l l u s i o n i n the "thread/Of s i l v e r " i s to the c o n s t e l l a -

t i o n Serpens - a c o n s t e l l a t i o n which seems to play an important 

part i n the as yet unmapped star chart of Stevens. Here the 



73 

a l l u s i o n i s to the fact that Serpens Capua (the head of the 

serpent) appears to crawl towards Corona Borealis; "whence the 

out wishing to over-emphasize the matter, the r e l a t i o n of the 

serpent to the crown i s a variable one. The s t e l l a r drama begins 

:('for observers i n Canada and the northern h a l f of the U.S) with 

the very f a i n t appearance of Corona Borealis on the northeastern 

h o r i z o n . ^ Next, Serpens Capua (the head of the serpent) makes 

i t s appearance and appears to be pursuing the Crown across the 

sky. Also i n evidence i s the c o n s t e l l a t i o n Hercules - the figure 

kneeling upside down and appearing to reach out i n a kind of 

extreme nisus to grasp Serpens Capua. The significance of 

Hercules becomes c l e a r when Ophiuchus makes his appearance: 

There i s c e r t a i n l y a significance i n the l o c a t i o n of 
t h i s figure Hercules of a giant trampling on a serpent 
[not Serpens but Draco] , for he i s placed head to head 
with the giant Ophiuchus, who i s represented as hold-
ing a writhing serpent i n his grasp. Hercules has been 
thought to represent the f i r s t Adam, beguiled by the 
serpent, and condemned to a l i f e of t o i l , while 
Ophiuchus i s supposed to be the second Adam, triumphant 

The point about Ophiuchus, who i s seen to grasp Serpens firmly 

when Serpens Capua i s closest to the Corona Borealis and then 

to p u l l the serpent slowly back from the crown, i s that he i s 

also Aesculapius "with whose worship serpents were always assoc-

i a t e d , as symbols of prudence, wisdom, renovation, and the power 

of discovering herbs..... he became so s k i l l e d i n practice that i t 

i s said he even restored the dead to l i f e . " ^ 6 

The function of t h i s a l l u s i o n i n "To the One of F i c t i v e Music" 

i s to provide an analogy with the double view of the poet and his 

muse. The analogy i s complicated by a concurrent analogy with the 

Serpent i s often said to be .'licking the Crown . ' " ^ 3 Now, with-



74 
earth i n i t s seasonal changes, but the main l i n e s are c l e a r . The 

poet, l i k e Hercules, attempts to grasp the serpent because he 

fears the "venom of renown" and i t s threat to his humanized muse. 

"Renown" means, l i t e r a l l y , 'to name again, or often' and thus to 

'make famous.' But the muse of the fourth stanza i s asked to 

assume her old attributes again: 

...whence springs 
The difference that heavenly p i t y brings. 
-For t h i s musician, i n your g i r d l e fixed 
Bear other perfumes. (CP 88) 

In other words, the serpent's "venom of renown," when transformed 

by Ophiuchus, becomes i t s own antidote. The poet reduces his muse 

from the outworn ethereal to the physical only to discover of a l l 

music "none/Gives motion to perfection more serene/...out of our 

imperfections wrought" than the music of his muse once again becom-

ing ethereal (note the contrast between "simple h a i r " and " l a b o r i -

ous weaving"). What makes such a progression inevitable i s that 

i n reducing h i s muse, the poet has i d e n t i f i e d her with earth or 

an aspect of i t (Ariadne as the "scented vine") and with the 

passage of the season such i d e n t i f i c a t i o n s become less and less 

adequate. The death of every image constitutes an embryonic 

stage i n the r e b i r t h of the muse as mystery. In the months of 

f r u i t i o n , man rests content with his perception that the beauty 

of the bloom i s a property of the physical flower (and indeed i t 

i s ) . But with the decay of the flower, the achieved recognition 

of the b e a u t i f u l remains and men r e a l i z e that beauty i s something 

else besides the merely physical. On the l e v e l of the analogy, 

the poet's images are never f u l l y adequate to the muse u n t i l 

they are such that they combine both the ethereal and the earthly 

- a feat of which no single physical image, nor single idea-as-name, 



75 

i s capable. This i s a fact which has important consequences i n 

regard to the technique of the central poet; i t necessitates h i s 

endless o s c i l l a t i o n s from the physical to the ethereal - h i s var-

i a b l e symbols and recurrent image's. 

"To the One of F i c t i v e Music" i s an incredibly concentrated 

poem and i t s complications are the kind constantly encountered 

i n Stevens' poems. They arise because to imagine an opposition 

i n a " t o t a l double-thing" i s d i f f i c u l t . I have, f o r example, 

posited an analogy between the ethereal movement of the constel-

l a t i o n s and the physical t r a n s i t i o n of the season as the basis 

of the poet's o s c i l l a t i o n . While the analogy does operate i n 

the poem, the opposition i t indicates i s not as simple as i t 

seems when expressed as an opposition between the ethereal and 

the physical. The f i r s t appearance of the c o n s t e l l a t i o n business 

i s used negatively; i t stands f o r the idea-as-name which i s out-

moded and dead - empty of f e e l i n g . The poet supplants this idea-

as-name with the physical image, nameless and known only by the 

poet's e x p e r i e n t i a l sense of i t . But, i n the t h i r d stanza, image  

and idea-as-name are seen as the same; the "arrant spices of the 

sun" i s wonderfully appropriate to both stars and blooms. It i s 

t h i s subtle c o r r e l a t i o n of the two terms of the opposition that 

releases the muse of the f i n a l stanza from the images that sur-

round her. She i s , i n e f f e c t , no longer chained to that which 

describes her; she i s beyond the words. It i s t h i s curious but 

nonetheless c a r e f u l l y planned release which affords the reader 

h i s sense of the vibrant l i f e of the muse as "Unreal." In other 

words, the poem works and creates, because of i t s concentrations, 

poetry. 



76 

My use of the poem, however, was aimed only at demonstrating 

how the "central poet" makes the ineffable c r e d i b l e . This poem 

i s , perhaps no more of an i l l u s t r a t i o n than (for example) "Fabliau 

of F l o r i d a , " but i t does have the v i r t u e of applying p a r t i c u l a r l y 

to the o s c i l l a t i n g movement of "the central poet". For those 

who f i n d the poem, or the interpretation of i t , too complicated 

to be i l l u s t r a t i v e , the poem "Last Looks at the L i l a c s " (CP 4 8 ) 

w i l l c l a r i f y at least the l a t t e r , or transcendent, h a l f of the 

poet's f u l l o s c i l l a t i o n . 

In "Last Looks at the L i l a c s " the basic analogy i s between 

the l i l a c and i t s personifications or transformations. The iden-

t i t y of " c a l i p e r " i s not too d i f f i c u l t : Riddel says "the figure 

of 'caliper'...symbolizes the extreme consequences of the r a t i o n -

a l mind which anatomizes nature at the expense of beauty. » 4 7 
Precisely; " c a l i p e r " i s the baser h a l f of man, whose measure of 

the r e a l i s the measure of the earth upon which he stands. His 

companion, however, is an ambiguous figure, a phantasia of f a i n t -

l y f e l t forms. As woman, she i s a p e r s o n i f i c a t i o n of the flowers, 

and, i n the extension of the f i n a l stanza, of the " l o s t " Pleiad 

i n the c o n s t e l l a t i o n Pleiades. Stevens probably i d e n t i f i e s the 

" l o s t " Pleiad as Merope, because he writes of her marriage as 

"the marriage/Of f l e s h and a i r " (CP 8 3 ) ; i t i s p r e c i s e l y t h i s 

marriage which forms the central opposition i n the poem. The 

c a l i p e r ' s analogies are d e f i n i t i o n s , i d e n t i f i c a t i o n s , attempts to 

reduce the ineffable with the framework of a presupposed r e a l i t y : 

. . . t h i s bloom i s the bloom of soap 

And t h i s fragrance the fragrance of vegetal (CP 4 8 ) 

Like the unaware poet of "To the One of F i c t i v e Music," but to a 

f a r greater degree, he wants his images r e a l . The narrator of 



77 

"Last Looks..." i s the aware poet chastising the unaware; his 

analogies emcompass the i s and is-not of both bloom and fragrance. 

He grants the c a l i p e r ' s sense of the flowers by making his per-

s o n i f i c a t i o n ambivalent. "She" i s the c a l i p e r ' s companion, which 

means she exists within his frame of reference as his sense of 

the r e a l flowers. But she i s also the i n e f f a b l e ; unlike the 

" c a l i p e r " she i s not h a l f - l i f e . As flower and p e r s o n i f i c a t i o n of 

flower she w i l l end up as "trash" - the flowers w i l l w i l t and die 

and be used i n the production of soap. The flower, as a subject 

for p e r s o n i f i c a t i o n w i l l then be as intangible as a i r - "her 

nakedness i s near." Like Merope, the "she" w i l l become i n v i s i b l e 

because companion of a mortal (the flowers and t h e i r p r a c t i c a l 

uses) and reside i n the sky with her s i s t e r s unseen. But her 

i n v i s i b i l i t y , i n the context of the poem, i s a consummation with 

the sun. The time i s Important here; i t i s the month of May, the 

blossomal on the revolutionary calendar, and the month i n which, 

according to Seyffert, the morning r i s i n g of the Pleiades s i g n i -

f i e s the approach of harvest: 

Her body quivering i n the F l o r e a l 

Toward the cool night and i t s fantastic star, 
Prime paramour and belted paragon, 
Well-booted, rugged, arrogantly male, 
Patron and imager of the gold Don John, 
Who w i l l embrace her before summer comes. (CP 84) 

The star i s Betelgeuse, which belongs to the c o n s t e l l a t i o n Orion, 

and which heralds i t s c o n s t e l l a t i o n s ' r i s e . At the end of May, 

Orion r i s e s i n the early morning; i t , , i n turn, heralds the r i s i n g 

of the sun and has been i d e n t i f i e d with i t i n myth. "The 

Eygptians represented i t as Horus, the young or r i s i n g sun... 

Now, Orion i s "Prime paramour" i n the sense that he i s f i r s t 



78 

lover of Merope, or at least would-be-lover (he pursued she and 

her s i s t e r s f o r f i v e years while on earth and s t i l l pursues the 

Pleiades toward the morning as c o n s t e l l a t i o n ) . He i s "belted 

paragon" because he affords the sun a non-constrictive image, 

through t h e i r association, that makes the marriage possible. 

Thus he i s "Patron and imager of the gold Don John" - patron 

because he drives Merope towards the sun. 

Note how s w i f t l y and cleanly t h i s "divine ingenue" f l i t s 

from inadequate Image to inadequate image u n t i l she attains her 

consummation with the completely released sun. It i s t h i s 

"double-thing" e x i s t i n g i n perfect freedom which i s exemplified 

by what I e a r l i e r c a l l e d existent images in r e l a t i o n to "the 

bright obvious" of "Man Carrying Thing." The muse of the fourth 

stanza of "To the One of F i c t i v e Music" and the "she" and sun of 

"Last Looks..." are also existent images - they accompany the 

words which surround them f r e e l y because their.existence i s not 

contained or defined f u l l y by them. One has intimations here of 

the reason behind Stevens' r e f u s a l to define metaphor as a state-

ment of i d e n t i t y - a fact Frye, for one, finds confusing . 4 9 The 

"central poet's" o s c i l l a t i o n s are made possible by "the strange 

unlike, whence springs/The difference that heavenly p i t y brings." 

(CP 88) They do not destroy images and ideas-as-names; they 

cause vibrations within them and v i b r a t i o n i s l i f e . This i s the 

point of "Adult Epigram" - Stevens' pedagogical t i d b i t , offered, 

presumably, to his i n i t i a t e d students: 

The romance of p r e c i s i o n is not the e l i s i o n 
Of the t i r e d romance of imprecision. 
It i s the ever-never-changing same, 
An appearance of Again, the diva-dame. (CP 353) 

What's precise about the "romance of p r e c i s i o n " i s i t s recognition 



79 

of the imprecision of.the images of "the t i r e d romance." It does 

not e l i d e that imprecision; i t uses i t as the source of i t s power. 

By so doing, i t causes to appear once again the same goddess or 

leading singer whose r e a l i t y was cause f o r a l l the images i n the 

f i r s t place but who had been entombed by the pretensions to 

p r e c i s i o n of imprecision. 

The technique of the existent image .does not always reveal 

i t s e l f i n the single poem, but t h i s i s only because the o s c i l -

l a t i o n s of the "central poet" are not so confined. The deadening 

d i v i s i o n s of the human understanding are so pervasive as to demand 

from the poet, i n his resistance of the pressure of r e a l i t y , far 

more rigorous endeavors than the mere resurrection of his muse or 

the accurate delineation of the experience of l i l a c s i n May. 

These are parts of the "non-geography" i n which the f u l l y con-

scious man e x i s t s , but unlike the haphazard and bloody choas of 

man's p o l i t i c a l ' r e a l i t y ' t h i s non-geography constitutes a har-

monious whole. The task of the "central poet" i s to make the 

whole appear whose r e a l i t y i s affirmed by every minor part. Such, 

at l e a s t , i s the promise of many of Stevens' poems - among them 

"The Woman i n Sunshine": 

It i s only that t h i s warmth and movement are l i k e 
The warmth and movement of a woman. 

It i s not that there i s any image i n the a i r 
Nor the beginning nor end of a form: 

It i s empty. But a woman i n threadless gold 
Burns us with brushings of her dress 

And a dissociated abundance of being, 
More d e f i n i t e for what she i s -

Because she i s disembodied, 
Bearing the odors of the summer f i e l d s , 

Confessing the t a c i t u r n and yet i n d i f f e r e n t , 



80 

I n v i s i b l y c l e a r , the only love. (CP 4̂ 5) 

There i s a strangely autobiographical element i n t h i s poem and i n 

many of Stevens' l a t e r poems. It i s as though the poet and his 

reader had agreed that the accomplishments which required so 

much concentration i n the early poems had become so much a matter 

of mutual acceptance that the continued extensions of that kind 

of experience could nox̂  be shared e a s i l y , g r a c e f u l l y , without 

e f f o r t and almost without the necessity of words. The poet 

speaks and presto! one exists i n the f e l t freedom of the sun and 

prepares to meditate the problem of "the only love." A l l t h i s 

may not be v a l i d as c r i t i c i s m , but i t ' s true, and i t ' s what makes 

Stevens' the poet he i s . If there i s a 'change' i n Stevens' l a t e r 

poems, i t i s not a change i n his conception of his function or 

h i s sense of the world as Riddel suggests: 

Necessity informs the apocalyptic tone of the late 
poetry to suggest that the r e a l problems of Stevens' 
f i n a l years were to e f f e c t some kind of compromise 
between the unremitting naturalism, and i n one sense, 
atheism, of his early poetry and the s p i r i t u a l tones of 
his l a t e . The d i s t i n c t i o n is not altogether correct. 
From the very beginning, he linked .poetry with the forms 
of d i v i n a t i o n , though he knew as well as Wordsworth 
that the poet was a man speaking to,men, and charged 
only with human truths. 

I f there i s a change, i t i s a change induced by Stevens' sense 

that "the only love" was " t a c i t u r n and yet i n d i f f e r e n t " ; each 

time the minors of the harmony had been more e a s i l y mastered, but 

s t i l l the major music, of which the minors are but phases, had not 

come. This x\ras, perhaps, i n e v i t a b l e , because Stevens' music was 

Godbole's: 

It was a r e l i g i o u s song. I placed myself i n the 
p o s i t i o n of a milkmaiden. I say to Shri Krishna, 'Come! 
come to me only.! The god refuses to come. I grow 
humble and say: 'Do not come to me only. Multiply your-
s e l f into, a hundred Krishnas, and l e t one go to each of 



81 

my hundred companions, but one, 0 Lord of the Universe, 
come to me.' He refuses to come. ... 

"But He comes i n some other song, I hope?" said 
Mrs. Moore gently. 

"Oh, no, he refuses to come," repeated Godbole, 
perhaps not understanding her question. "I say to Him, 
Come, come, come, come, come, come. He neglects to 
come."51 

But i t cannot be considered a f a i l u r e on the part of the 

"central poet" that the complete harmony remains beyond the edges 

of h i s poems. It i s the woman h e r s e l f , i n "The Woman i n Sunshine", 

who by the freedom of her being r e f l e c t s not only the r e a l i t y of 

the experience i n which she hovers but also the r e a l i t y of that 

which she loves and which i s beyond a l l experience. An e s s e n t i a l 

knowledge i n any genuine understanding of Stevens must be that 

existent images are not ends i n themselves. They are facets of 

the absolute, true symbols, c r y s t a l perspectives through which i t 

i s possible to glimpse the f i r e at the heart of the gem. Surfaces, 

they r e f l e c t the l i g h t of the images which surround them and min-

gle with i t a suggestion of the radiance of the "That" of which 

they are composed. 

Such description may sound too euphuistic, but i t i s a fact 

that Stevens had t h i s kind of double r e l a t i o n i n mind, i n his 

prose and his poetry. Evidence of i t appears i n such poems, for 

example, as "An Ordinary Evening i n New Haven": 

The w i l l of necessity, the w i l l of w i l l s -

Romanza out of the black shepherd's i s l e , 
Like the constant sound of the water of the sea 
In the hearing of the shepherd and his black forms 
Out of the i s l e , but not of any i s l e . 
Close to the senses there l i e s another i s l e 
And there the senses give and nothing take, 

The opposite of Cythere, an i s o l a t i o n 
At the centre, the object of the w i l l , t h i s place, 
The things around - the alternate romanza 



82 

Out of the surfaces, the windows, the walls, 
The bricks grown b r i t t l e i n time's poverty, 
The c l e a r . A c e l e s t i a l mode i s paramount, 

I f only i n the branches sweeping i n the rains 
The two romanzas, the distant and the near, 
Are a single voice i n the boo-ha of the wind. (CP 4 8 0 - 8 1 ) 

There i s a strong suggestion of a l l u s i o n i n the s p e l l i n g of 

Cythere x<rtiich I cannot trace, but at this l e v e l i t may be con-

sidered of secondary importance. The meaning of the l i n e s emerges 

c l e a r l y . In t h e i r context, they describe the struggle "of a man,/ 

Who s i t s thinking i n the corners of a room." (CP 4 8 0 ) What he 

i s thinking about i s "the pure sphere" (CP 4 8 0 ) of the absolute. 

There are three elements which compose his thought - "The town" 

as "a residuum,/A neuter shedding shapes i n an absolute," (CP 4 7 9 ) 

the " t r a n s c r i p t s " of imagination and f e e l i n g which become "the 

nameless f l i t t i n g characters" (CP ^ 7 9 ) and which correspond to 

existent images and are the 'shapes shed by the neuter i n an 

absolute,' and "the pure sphere" of the absolute i t s e l f which he 

desires to comprehend. But his nisus for the absolute i s blocked, 

Inevitably, by the w i l l of the absolute i t s e l f s 
In t h i s chamber the pure sphere escapes the impure 

Because the thinker himself escapes. And yet 
To have evaded clouds and men leaves him 
A naked being with a naked w i l l 

And everything to make. He may evade 
Even his own w i l l and i n his nakedness 
Inhabit the hypnosis of that sphere. 

XXI 

But he may not. He may not evade his w i l l , 
Nor the w i l l s of other men; and he cannot evade 
The w i l l of necessity, the w i l l of w i l l s - (CP 4 8 0 ) 

"The bright obvious" .was never more obvious, nor ever more beau-

t i f u l than i t i s here. How much of i t s power can the c r i t i c be 



83 
expected to capture by pointing to the opposition between the 

i s l e of Cythere - the i s l e where Venus rose from the sea as g i f t 

from the gods, herself divine - the the i s l e of the black shepherd 

and his black forms where "the senses give and nothing take" 

because i t i s the w i l l of the black shepherd that man return his 

g i f t f i l l e d with a l l the love and devotional labor they can muster 

from t h e i r l i v e s ? What hope i s there that the f l a t statement that 

the d i s s o c i a t i o n of the "Romanza" of the black shepherd from a l l 

i t s images ("Out of the i s l e , but not of any i s l e " ) gives "him" 

free existence can define the tremendous l i f e of the poetry? 

One reads the l i n e s "The two romanzas, the distant and the near,/ 

Are a single voice i n the boo-ha of the wind" and knows that 

everything that he has said about Stevens has been r i g h t and true 

and that everything that Stevens i s saying about him and everyone 

i n the poem i s also right and true. As c r i t i c , he says that "the 

boo-ha.of the wind" means l i f e , my f r i e n d , and i n l i f e i t i s hard 

to see our moments of greatest exultation as but pale r e f l e c t i o n s 

and p a r t i a l sharings of the absolute. 

Stevens avoids the "hypnosis" of the void and seeks, as he 

must, the sense of the plenum-void. That h i s c r i t i c s have f a i l e d 

to follow him i s due to t h e i r delusion that they must adhere, and 

Stevens should adhere, to one side or the other of the euhemerist-

hermetic s p l i t . The kind of objection Richards made to theories 

of the truth of poetry, which i s the kind of objection underlying 

the s p l i t , no longer applies to a l l theories because the grounds 

of the "central poet's" existence constitute proof that i s the 

equivalent of " M i l l ' s Logic." The purpose now must be to examine 

those grounds, both for themselves and for t h e i r influence on the 



84 

mode of existence of " c e n t r a l poetry" and i t s techniques. 
S u r p r i s i n g l y , there i s l i t t l e that needs to be s a i d about 

the theory of " c e n t r a l poetry" once one has understood the k i n d 
of transcendence achieved by the " c e n t r a l poet" i n h i s poems. 
There i s nothing very elaborate about i t , though i t i s theory 
capable of absorbing an i n f i n i t e number of exempla. Nor i s there 
anything new about i t ; i t belongs to a theory of e s t h e t i c s so o l d 
as to be almost f o r g o t t e n - a theory r e c e n t l y r e i t e r a t e d by 
Ananda Coomaraswamy, a man Stevens very probably knew: 

P r e c i s e l y as love i s r e a l i t y experienced by the l o v e r , 
and t r u t h i s r e a l i t y as experienced by the philosopher, 
so beauty i s r e a l i t y as experienced by the a r t i s t ; and 
these are three phases of the Absolute 

The a r t i s t r e v e a l s 
t h i s beauty wherever the mind attaches i t s e l f ; and the 
mind attaches i t s e l f , not d i r e c t l y to the Absolute, but 
t o the objects of choice. 

Thus we r e t u r n to the e a r t h . I f we supposed we 
should f i n d the object of search elsewhere, we were mis-
taken. The two worlds of s p i r i t and matter, Purusha 
and P r a k r i t ! , are one: and t h i s i s as c l e a r to the 
a r t i s t as i t i s to the l o v e r or the philosopher. Those 
P h i l i s t i n e s to whom i t i s not so apparent, we should 
speak of as m a t e r i a l i s t s or as n i h i l i s t s - e x c l u s i v e 
monists, to whom the report of the senses i s e i t h e r a l l 
i n a l l , or nothing at a l l . The theory of rasa set f o r t h 
according to Vishvanatha and other a e s t h e t i c i a n s , belongs 
to t o t a l monism: i t marches w i t h the Vedanta. 

52 

Compare t h i s theory of " t o t a l monism" w i t h Stevens' statement; 
"As we come to the point at which i t i s necessary to be e x p l i c i t 
i n respect to p o e t i c t r u t h , note t h a t , i f we say that the p h i l o s -
opher pursues the t r u t h i n one way and the poet i n another, i t i s 
i m p l i e d that both are pursuing the same t h i n g , and we overlook 
the f a c t that they are pursuing two d i f f e r e n t parts of a whole." 
(NA 54) Then compare the s i m i l a r i t y between the technique of 
e x i s t e n t images and the technique of the r e l i g i o u s a r t of t o t a l 
monism: 



85 

Religious art i s simply a v i s u a l theology: C h r i s t i a n 
and Oriental theology a l i k e are means to an end, but not 
to be confused with that end. Both a l i k e involve a 
dual method, that of the v i a a f f l r m a t l v a and of the v i a  
negatlva; on the one hand affirming things of God by 
way of praise, and on the other hand denying every one 
of these l i m i t i n g descriptive affirmations, f o r though 
the worship i s d i s p o s i t i v e to immediate v i s i o n , God i s 
not and never can be "what men worship here." The two 
ways are f a r from mutually exclusive; they are comple-
mentary....! s h a l l only c i t e from the Upanishad, where 
i t i s a question of the use of c e r t a i n types of concepts 
of deity regarded as supports of contemplation. Which 
of these i s the best? That depends on i n d i v i d u a l fac-
u l t i e s . But i n any case, these are pre-eminent aspects 
of the incorporeal deity; "these one should contemplate 
and praise, but then deny. For with these one r i s e s 
from higher to higher states of being. But when a l l 
these forms are resolved, then he attains to the unity 
of the Person". 53 

I cannot overemphasize the closeness of the c o r r e l a t i o n between 

the theory and practice of "central poetry" and the theory and 

practice of " t o t a l monism." One could go on comparing passages 

i n d e f i n i t e l y - Stevens' concept of poetry as "a process of the 

personality" compared to Coomaraswamy•s view of art "starting 

from the p o s i t i o n that 'Though he i s an a r t i s t , the a r t i s t i s 

nevertheless a man'," and ending with the same transcendence^ _ 

but the purpose of the comparison i s primarily to put Stevens' 

theory safely beyond the dualism involved i n Frye's "balance" and 

beyond Riddel's assertion that "Stevens' r e l a t i v i s m , which has 

always been the pediment of his esthetic ...becomes h i s sustain-

ing b e l i e f . " 5 5 i f Stevens had any b e l i e f , i t was one describable 

only i n terms of Seng-Ts'an's "Suchness": 

1. The perfect way knows no d i f f i c u l t i e s 
Except that i t refuses to make preferences; 

A tenth of an inch's difference, 
And heaven and earth are set apart. 
If you wish to see i t with your own eyes 
Have no fixed thoughts either for or against i t . 

4. Pursue not the outer entanglements, 



86 

Dwell not In the inner Void; 
Be serene i n the oneness of things, 
And dualism vanishes by i t s e l f . 

6 . And when oneness Is not thoroughly understood, 
In two ways loss i s sustained: 
The denying of r e a l i t y i s the asserting of i t , 
And the asserting of emptiness i s the denying of i t . 

17. The two exist because of the One, 
But hold not even to t h i s One; 
When a mind i s not disturbed, 
The ten thousand things o f f e r no offence. 

19. When you are not prejudiced against the six sense 
objects, 

You are then one With the enlightenment. 
The wise are non-active, 
While the ignorant bind themselves up; 
While i n the Dharma i t s e l f there i s no individuation. 
They ignorantly attach themselves to p a r t i c u l a r 

objects. 
It i s t h e i r own mind that creates i l l u s i o n s , 
Is t h i s not the greatest of a l l self-contradictions? 

23. Forget the wherefore of things, 
And we a t t a i n to a state beyond analogy; 
Movement stopped and there i s no movement, 
Rest set i n motion and there i s no r e s t ; 
When dualism does no more obtain, 
Oneness i t s e l f abides not. 

24. The ultimate end of things where they cannot go any 
further, 

Is not bound by rules and measures; 
In the Mind harmonious we have the p r i n c i p l e 
Of i d e n t i t y , In which we f i n d a l l s t r i v i n g s quieted; 

There i s nothing l e f t behind, 
There i s nothing retained, 
A l l i s void, l u c i d and s e l f - i l l u m i n a t i n g , 
There i s no exertion, no waste of energy -
This i s where thinking never a t t a i n s , 
This i s where the imagination f a i l s to measure.56 

To understand these aphorisms i s to perceive i n i t s f u l l n e s s the 

theory of "central poetry." I include them here, not from any 

desire to proselytize f o r Buddhism (or even for Hinduism), but to 

provide models of Stevens' theory that have a t r a d i t i o n behind 

them. Coomaraswamy, Seng-Ts'an, and Stevens a l l a f f i r m the same 

theory, but they see i t through i n d i v i d u a l eyes. The trouble 



87 

with Stevens' version i s that his theory i s less theory than 

p r a c t i c e , even in his prose. 

But the "central poet" does have his "intimidating thesis" -

" i t i s no doubt true that absolute fact includes everything that 

the imagination includes" (NA 60-61) - and i t i s from t h i s thesis 

that the e s s e n t i a l elements of his theory spring. The immediate 

consequence i s the denial of d u a l i s t i c concepts - a denial 

Stevens makes repeatedly: 

... the poet w i l l come to a decision regarding the 
imagination and r e a l i t y ; and he w i l l f i n d that i t i s 
not a choice of one over the other and not a decision 
that divides them, but something subtler, a recognition 
that here, too, ... the universal interdependence ex-
i s t s , and hence his choice and h i s decision must be that 
they are equal and inseparable. . (NA 2k) 

Poetry i s an interdependence of the imagination and 
r e a l i t y as equals. This i s not a d e f i n i t i o n since i t 
i s incomplete. But i t states the nature of poetry. (NA 27) 

The subject matter of poetry i s not that " c o l l e c t i o n 
of s o l i d , s t a t i c objects extended i n space" but the 
l i f e that i s l i v e d i n the scene that i t composes; and 
so r e a l i t y i s not that external scene but the l i f e that 
i s l i v e d i n i t . Reality i s things as they are. (NA 28) 

Reality i s l i f e and l i f e i s society and the imagination 
and reality....Yes the all-commanding subject matter of 
poetry i s l i f e , the never-ceasing source. (NA 28) 

It i s t h i s denial that forms the f i r s t phase, as i t were, of the 

poet's movement toward abstraction. As a philosophical gambit, 

i t plunges Stevens into, an i n t r i c a t e maze of d i s t i n c t i o n s and 

apparent contradictions which must now be sorted out. 

The f i r s t d i s t i n c t i o n Stevens would emphasize i s that between 

the "central poet" and philosophers. This d i s t i n c t i o n involves 

Stevens' comparison of poetic truth and philosophical truth as 

"two d i f f e r e n t parts of a whole" (NA 5k) t 

There i s a difference between them [the truths]and i t 



88 

i s the d i f f e r e n c e between l o g i c a l and e m p i r i c a l 
knowledge. (NA 54) 

The d i s t i n c t i o n h e r e i n advanced i s not as simple and f i n a l as i t 
appears. I t i s necessary f o r Stevens because of the s i m i l a r i t y 
between poets and p h i l o s o p h e r s , not because they are t o t a l l y 
opposed. This i s the whole problem of "A C o l l e c t of Philosophy" 
- an essay i n which Stevens attempts to i n d i c a t e the d i f f e r e n c e 
as one of o r d e r i n g : 

The h a b i t of forming concepts u n i t e s them(poets and 
p h i l o s o p h e r s ^ . The use to which they put t h e i r ideas 
separates them...The h a b i t of forming concepts i s 
a h a b i t of the mind by which i t probes f o r an i n t e g r a -
t i o n . . . The h a b i t of probing f o r an i n t e g r a t i o n seems 
to be part of the general w i l l to order.... The p h i l o s -
opher searches f o r an i n t e g r a t i o n f o r i t s own sake, as, 
f o r example, P l a t o ' s idea that knowledge i s r e c o l l e c t i o n 
or that the s o u l i s a harmony; the poet searches f o r an 
i n t e g r a t i o n that s h a l l be not so much s u f f i c i e n t i n i s -
s e l f as s u f f i c i e n t f o r some q u a l i t y that i t possesses, 
such as i t s i n s i g h t , i t s evocative power or i t s appear-
ance i n the eye of the imagination. The philosopher 
intends h i s i n t e g r a t i o n to be f a t e f u l ; the poet intends 
h i s to be e f f e c t i v e . (OP 1 9 6 - 9 7 ) 

What t h i s means, i n e f f e c t , i s that one knows p h i l o s o p h i c a l t r u t h 
as one knows something l o g i c a l l y ( I . e . the conclusion, of a 
l o g i c a l premiss i s always that something, u s u a l l y the premiss, 
must be)- and t h i s includes empiricism as p h i l o s o p h i c t r u t h -
w h i l e one knows p o e t i c t r u t h as one knows something e m p i r i c a l l y 
( i . e . as a matter of experience or as something which simply i s ) 
- and t h i s includes i n t u i t i o n . So says Stevens i n "Imagination 
as Value": 

I t i s so easy f o r the poet to say that a learned man 
must go on being a learned man but that a poet respects 
no knowledge except h i s own and, again, that the poet 
does not y i e l d to the p r i e s t . What the poet has i n 
mind, when he says things of t h i s s o r t , i s that p o e t i c 
value i s an i n t r i n s i c value. I t i s not the value of 
knowledge. I t i s not the value of f a i t h . I t i s the 
value of the imagination. The poet t r i e s to exemplify 



89 

i t , i n p a r t , as I have t r i e d to exemplify i t here, by 
i d e n t i f y i n g i t w i t h an imaginative a c t i v i t y that d i f -
fuses i t s e l f throughout our l i v e s . I say exemplify 
and not j u s t i f y , because poetic value i s i n t u i t i o n a l 
value and because i n t u i t i o n a l values cannot be j u s t i -
f i e d . (NA 149) 

(Before anyone turns back to Richards' charge against the-
o r i e s of p o e t i c t r u t h as the t r u t h of i n t u i t i o n and to my a s s e r -
t i o n that the " c e n t r a l poet's" grounds of existence provided 
j u s t i f i c a t i o n f o r such a view, I should l i k e to point out that 
the end of the argument has not yet been reached. Indeed, i t i s 
j u s t beginning.) 

I t must be remembered that t h i s d i f f e r e n c e , f o r Stevens, i s 
not f i n a l or f i x e d . To r e i t e r a t e what was s a i d i n the i n t r o d u c -
t i o n of t h i s paper, i t was the r e l a t i o n between the imagination 
and reason which gave the " c e n t r a l poet" the grounds f o r h i s 
existences 

...the poet, i n order to f u l f i l l h i m s e l f , must accomp-
l i s h a poetry that s a t i s f i e s both the reason and the 
imagination. (NA 42) 

The point i s redefined i n "A C o l l e c t of Philosophy"; 
The most s i g n i f i c a n t , deduction p o s s i b l e r e l a t e s to the 
question of supremacy as between philosophy and poetry. 
I f we say that philosophy i s supreme, t h i s means that 
the reason i s supreme over the imagination. But i s i t ? 
Does not philosophy c a r r y us to a point at which there 
i s nothing l e f t except the imagination? I f we r e l y on 
the imagination (or, say, i n t u i t i o n ) , to c a r r y us 
beyond that p o i n t , and i f the imagination succeeds i n 
c a r r y i n g us beyond that p o i n t (as i n respect to the 
idea of God, i f we conceive of the idea of God as t h i s 
world's c a p i t a l i d e a ) , then the imagination i s supreme, 
because i t s powers have shown themselves to be g r e a t e r 
than the powers of reason. Philosophers, however, are 
not l i m i t e d to reason and, as the concepts, to which I 
have r e f e r r e d , show, t h e i r ideas are o f t e n triumphs of 
the imagination. (OP 200) 

Stevens goes on to give a concrete example of one of the "triumphs 
of the imagination" which supersede the process of reason. In 



90 

great d e l i g h t , he passes over Pascal and chooses a figure f a r 

l e s s amenable to the imagination or.to poetry - Planck - and 

c i t e s Andre' George's observation about Planck's t h e s i s , The  

Concept of Causality i n Physics; 

He says: 

...The l a s t pages of• the thesis are quite curious. 
One f e e l s there, as i t were, a supreme h e s i t a t i o n ; 
the believer henceforth i s no longer able to con-
ceal a c e r t a i n trouble. The most convinced de-
terminst, Planck declares, i n so many words, i s 
not able to s a t i s f y himself e n t i r e l y with such an 
i n t e r p r e t a t i o n . For, i n the end, a universal 
p r i n c i p l e l i k e the rigorous causal bond between 
two successive events ought to be independent of 
man. It i s a p r i n c i p l e of cosmic importance, i t 
ought to be an absolute. Now, Planck not only 
recognizes that i t i s part of human aptitude to 
forsee events but to forsee them by means of 
science, "the provisional and changing creation 
of the power of the imagination." How then 
l i b e r a t e the concept from such an anthropomorphic 
hypothesis? Only an i n t e l l i g e n c e external to man, 
"not c o n s t i t u t i n g a part of nature," would be able 
to l i b e r a t e i t . This supra-natural i n t e l l i g e n c e 
would act through the deterministic power.... Planck 
there upon concludes that the law of causality i s 
neither true nor f a l s e . It i s a working hypothesis. 

George says, f i n a l l y , that this conclusion i s f a r away 
from the r i g i d concept, firmly determinist, which seemed 
up to now to constitute Planck's b e l i e f . He c a l l s i t a 
nuance but a nuance of importance, worth being s i g n a l -
ized. 

I think we may f a i r l y say that i t is a nuance of the 
imagination....It is.unexpected to have to recognize 
even i n Planck the presence of the poet. It i s as i f 
i n a study of modern man we predicated the greatness of 
poetry as the f i n a l measure of his stature, as i f his 
willingness to believe beyond b e l i e f was what made him 
modern and was always c e r t a i n to keep him so. (OP 20102) 

Stevens' i l l u s t r a t i o n proves the point about philosophers; 

now an example i s needed that w i l l demonstrate what kind of a c t i v -

i t y characterizes the poet who w i l l " s a t i s f y both the reason and 

the imagination." There i s such an i l l u s t r a t i o n at hand; i t con-

s i s t s of a demonstration of a r e l a t i o n between Kant, Plato, and 

Stevens. The point of the r e l a t i o n i s that Plato, i n h i s myths, 



91 

s a t i s f i e d the imagination but not the reason, Kant, i n h i s 
philosophy, s a t i s f i e d the reason but not the imagination, and 
Stevens, i n h i s poetry, s a t i s f i e d both. 

To begin w i t h , the r e l a t i o n i s one between two metaphysi-
c i a n s par excellence and t h e i r v a r i a n t use of the imagination, 
and a poet and h i s use of reason. Stevens was very f i r m i n h i s 
i n s i s t e n c e on the d i f f e r e n c e : 

. . . i t may be. s a i d that p o e t i c t r u t h i s an agreement 
w i t h r e a l i t y , brought about by the imagination of a 
man...expressed i n terms of h i s emotions, or, since i t 
i s l e s s of a r e s t r i c t i o n to say so, i n terms of h i s own 
p e r s o n a l i t y 

I f we consider the nature of our experience 
when we are i n agreement w i t h r e a l i t y , we f i n d , f o r one 
t h i n g , that we cease to be metaphysicians...even though 
we have acquired something from them as from a l l men. 
...the t r u t h that we experience when we are i n agreement 
w i t h r e a l i t y i s the t r u t h of f a c t . (NA 5 4 - 5 9 ) 

This d i s t i n c t i o n p a r a l l e l s , i n a way, the d i s t i n c t i o n between 
mysticism and c i v i l i z a t i o n so fundamental to the theory of " c e n t r a l 
poetry". Stevens does not r e j e c t metaphysics out of hand; he uses 
i t . But the d i s t i n c t i o n i s necessary because i t would be a great 
mistake to confuse, as Wagner does, the imagination as metaphysics 
and p o e t i c imagination. Wagner e r r s when he describes the r e j e c -
t i o n s of the imagination as metaphysics as though they were the 
r e j e c t i o n s of the p o e t i c imagination (the u n d e r l i n i n g i s mine): 

C e n t r a l poetry i s created out of the interweaving of 
pure imagination and bare r e a l i t y . To a t t a i n t h i s 
moral (or a r t i s t i c ) synthesis a s e r i e s of r e j e c t i o n s i s 
necessary. The most important of these i s the r e j e c t i o n 
of t r a d i t i o n a l r e l i g i o n . ...Then the " f a l s e imagina-
t i o n " w i l l be destroyed and r e l i g i o n may be judged as  
we judge poetry:" not so much that i t a c t u a l l y i s so as  
that i t must be so" - not so much that God a c t u a l l y 
e x i s t s , as that He i s a moral n e c e s s i t y based on con-
t i n g e n t experience. 5 7 

Wagner goes on to describe the r e j e c t i o n s Stevens p o s i t e d f o r the 
imagination as metaphysics i n "Imagination as Value" but h i s 



92 

cause has already been l o s t . It was Kant who made God " a moral 

necessity," not a poet. Stevens' poetry i s not be be judged, as 

I have shown, on the basis of "must be" but on the basis of " i s " . 

It i s quite true that Stevens t r i e s to exemplify the value of 

poetic truth by i d e n t i f y i n g i t with metaphysical truth i n 

"Imagination as Value"; such truth i s also the basis for the 

"central poet's" equation of the imagination with r e a l i t y : 

To regard the imagination as metaphysics i s to think 
of i t as part of l i f e , and to think of i t as part of 
l i f e i s to r e a l i z e the extent of a r t i f i c e . We l i v e 
i n the mind. (NA 140) 

But Stevens repeatedly denies the c o r r e l a t i o n Wagner makes -

(the underlining i s mine). 

A.second d i f f i c u l t y about value i s the difference 
between the imagination as metaphysics and as a power 
of the mind over external objects, that i s to say, 
r e a l i t y . (NA I36) 

When I speak of the power of the mind over external 
objects I have in mind, as external objects, works of  
art as, f o r example... the Jesuit church at Lucerne, 
where one might so e a s i l y pass from the r e a l to the  
visionary without consciousness of change. , Imagination, 
as metaphysics, leads us in one d i r e c t i o n and, as a r t , 
i n another. (NA 137) 

...the imagination penetrates l i f e . . . . i t s value as 
metaphysics i s not the same as i t s value i n arts and 
l e t t e r s . ...In l i f e what i s important i s the t r u t h ' 
as i t i s , while i n arts and l e t t e r s what i s important 
i s the truth as we see i t . There i s a r e a l difference 
here.... Its value i n arts and l e t t e r s i s aesthetic. 
Most men's l i v e s are thrust upon them. The existence 
of aesthetic value i n l i v e s that are forced on those 
that l i v e them Is an improbable sort of thing. There 
can be l i v e s , nevertheless, which exist by the d e l i b -
erate choice of those that l i v e them. To use a single 
i l l u s t r a t i o n : i t may be assumed that the l i f e of 
Professor Santayana i s a l i f e i n which the function of 
the imagination has had a. function s i m i l a r to i t s func-
t i o n i n any deliberate work of art or l e t t e r s . We 
have only to think of the present phase of i t , i n which, 
i n his old age, he dwells at the head of the world, i n 
the company of devoted women, i n t h e i r convent, and i n 
the company of f a m i l i a r saints, whose presence does so 



93 

much to make any convent an appropriate refuge for a 
generous and human philosopher. (NA 147-48) 

One could hardly expect a more exact description of the d i f f e r -

ence - a difference contained, too, i n "To An Old Philosopher 

i n Rome" i n the image of the b e l l s : 

The b e l l s keep on repeating solemn names 

In-choruses and choirs of choruses, 
Unwilling that mercy should be a mystery 
Of silence, that any solitude of sense 
Should give you more than t h e i r peculiar chords 
And reverbrations c l i n g i n g to whisper s t i l l . (CP 510) 

For Santayana r e a l i t y and the imagination are known as one i n 

l i f e - "The threshold Rome, and that more merciful Rome/Beyond, 

the two a l i k e i n the make of the mind" (CP 508) - but i t i s not 

merely the transformations made possible by such insight that 

make his l i f e esthetic. Like the "thinker".in "An Ordinary 

Evening...", Santayana does not stop at his existent images: 

How e a s i l y the blown banners change to wings... 
Things dark on the horizons of perception, 
Become accompaniments of fortune, but . 
Of the fortune of the s p i r i t , beyond the eye, 
Not of i t s sphere, and yet not f a r beyond, 

The human end i n the s p i r i t ' s greatest reach, 
The extreme of the known i n the presence of the extreme 
Of the unknown. (CP 508) 

Santayana does not want to hold to "the One." He recognises i t 

as the presence of the unknown i n the "extreme of the known.", 

He acquiesces i n "the t r a g i c accent of the scene," (510) as the 

contemplative must. It i s t h i s power of contemplation complete-

l y released from desire that makes the value of Santayana's l i f e 

an esthetic value.: The b e l l s are wrong; they sound the desire 

of the ignorant to "attach themselves to p a r t i c u l a r objects," 

to f i n d "individuation" i n "the Dharma i t s e l f . " 

Whether Santayana, the man, was a l l that Stevens thought he 



94 
was i s i r r e l e v a n t . The point i s that "the old philosopher" of 

the poem treats l i f e as a r t . The function of a r t , and t h i s i s 

extremely important, i s not to embody the absolute i n the con-

tingent, the unknown i n the known. The function of art i s to 

embody the extreme of the known and thereby become an object 

f o r the contemplation of the unknown because i n the extreme of 

the known one becomes aware of the unknown. 

The point becomes apparent i n the comparison of Plato, Kant 

and Stevens. The purpose of the comparison i s to demonstrate 

how a poet can write poetry that s a t i s f i e s both the reason and 

the Imagination, and i t begins with an apologia written, on Plat 

behalf, by J. A. Stewart i n his book The Myths of-Plato: 

Let me close t h i s Introduction...in the form of a 
defense of Plato against a charge brought by Kant i n 
a well-known passage. 

The l i g h t dove, i n free f l i g h t cleaving the a i r 
and f e e l i n g i t s resistance, might imagine that 
i n a i r l e s s space she would fare better. Even so 
Plato l e f t the world of sense, because i t sets 
so narrow l i m i t s to the understanding, and ventur 
ed beyond, on the wings of Ideas, into the empty 
space of the pure understanding. He did not see 
that, with a l l his e f f o r t , he made no way. 

Here Kant brings against Plato the charge of "trans-
cendental use, or rather, misuse, of the Categories 
of the Understanding" - of supposing super-sensible 
objects, Soul, Cosmos, God, answering to "Ideas" 
which have no adequate objects i n a possible experi-
ence, and then determining these supposed objects by 
means of conceptions - the Categories - the applica-
t i o n of which ought to be r e s t r i c t e d to sensible 
objects.58 

This defence takes the form of a summary of Stewart's i n t r o -

ductory observations, the g i s t of which i s that Plato's myths 

are poetry and the function of poetry i s to create i n the reader 

"Transcendental Feeling:" 

The chief end of Poetry, then, i s to induce Trans-
cendental Feeling-experienced as solemn sense of the 



9 5 

immediate presence of "That which was, and i s , and 
ever s h a l l be" - i n the Poet's patient, by throwing 
him suddenly, f o r a moment, into the state of dream-
consciousness, out of a waking consciousness which 
the Poet supplies with objects of i n t e r e s t ; the 
sudden lapse being effected i n the patient by the 
communication to him of images and other products 
of the Poet's dream consciousness.. . 5 9 

To sum up i n e f f e c t what I have said about Trans-
cendental Feeling; i t i s f e e l i n g which indeed appears 
i n our ordinary object-distinguishing, time-marking 
consciousness, but does not originate i n i t . It i s 
to be traced to the influence on consciousness of the 
presence i n us of that "Part of the Soul" which holds 
on, i n timeless sleep, to L i f e as worth l i v i n g . . . . I n 
the first-mentioned phase Transcendental Feeling 
appears as an abnormal experience of our conscious 
l i f e , as a well-marked e c s t a t i c state; i n i t s other 
phase - as conviction that L i f e i s good - Trans-
cendental Feeling may be said to be a normal experience 
of our conscious l i f e ; i t i s not an experience oc-
c a s i o n a l l y cropping up alongside of other experiences, 
but a f e e l i n g which accompanies a l l the experiences 
of our conscious l i f e . . . . S u c h a f e e l i n g , though normal, 
i s r i g h t l y c a l l e d Transcendental, because i t i s not 
one of the e f f e c t s , but the condition of our entering 
upon and persevering i n that course of endeavor which 
makes experience.6 0 

It i s d i f f i c u l t to avoid the f e e l i n g that Stevens read 

Stewart. In "Imagination as Value" he speaks of the imagination 

as a "power that enables us to perceive the normal, the opposite 

of chaos i n chaos" (NA153) and means by the normal "the i n s t i n c -

t i v e integrations which are. the reason for l i v i n g . " (NA 1 5 5 ) 

In any case, Stevens would agree about "Transcendental Feeling" 

as a function of poetry, though he would probably prefer to c a l l 

i t Santayana's "animal f a i t h " 6 l and he would most c e r t a i n l y 

disagree about the manner of i t s engendering. 

To Stevens, the f a u l t of Plato i s the f a u l t of,the times; 

Kant and the content of two m i l l e n i a of consciousness had sapped 

the v i t a l i t y from his myths. His discussion of Plato's figure 

of the charioteer proves the point: 



96 

..we have scarcely read the passage before we have 
i d e n t i f i e d ourselves with the charioteer....Then 
suddenly we remember, i t may be, that the soul no 
longer exists and we droop i n our f l i g h t and at l a s t 
s e t t l e on the s o l i d ground. The figure becomes 
antiquated and r u s t i c . 

What r e a l l y happens i n t h i s b r i e f experience? 
Why does t h i s figure, potent f o r so long, become 
-merely the emblem of a mythology, the r u s t i c memo-
r i a l of a b e l i e f i n the soul and i n a d i s t i n c t i o n 
between good and e v i l ? The answer to these questions 
i s , I think, a simple one. 

...the figure does not become unreal because we 
are troubled about the soul. Besides, unreal things 
have a r e a l i t y of t h e i r own, in poetry as elsewhere. 
We do not hesitate, i n poetry, to y i e l d ourselves'to 
the unreal, when i t i s possible to y i e l d ourselves.. 

In 
Plato's f i g u r e , his imagination does not adhere to 
what i s r e a l . On the contrary, having created some-
thing unreal, i t adheres to i t and i n t e n s i f i e s i t s 
u n r e a l i t y . Its f i r s t e f f e c t . . . i s i t s maximum e f f e c t , 
when the imagination, being moved, puts us i n the 
place of the charioteer, before the reason checks us. 
...We understand the f e e l i n g of i t , the robust f e e l -
ing, c l e a r l y and f l u e n t l y communicated. Yet we 
understand i t rather than p a r t i c i p a t e i n i t . (NA 3 - 7 ) 

The f a u l t with, i n Stewart's xvords, "images and other 

products of the Poet's dream consciousness," or with any objects 

which attempt to embody, as i d e n t i t y , something l i k e soul i s 

that reason refutes them, - as things not r e a l l y what they pur-

port to be. It i s the difference between emblems and symbols, 

between (embodiments) and existent images, that underlies 

Stevens' c r i t i c i s m of Plato's f i g u r e . 

There i s an informative analogy between Plato's figure and 

Stevens' poem "Invective Against Swans" that demonstrates the 

d i f f e r e n c e . Like Plato's figure, Stevens' poem concerns the 

soul: 

The soul, 0 ganders, f l i e s beyond the parks 

And far beyond the discords of the wind. (CP 4) 

The difference between Stevens and Plato i s not that Stevens 

gives up the soul as unusable concept. It i s not even that 



97 
Stevens discounts the e f f i c a c y of images; the r e a l difference 

i s that Stevens creates existent images rather than embodiments. 

In t h i s poem, the existent image i s created by an imperfect re-

duction of swans into ganders. Frankenburg•s assumption that 

the t i t l e captures Stevens' attitude toward the swans i s er-

roneous. 62 Ganders are male geese, not swans, and the narrator's 

address to ganders has more purpose than a simple i n s u l t to the 

d i g n i t y of swans. The soul does f l y "to the skies." 

And the soul, 0 ganders, being lonely, f l i e s 
Beyond your c h i l l y chariots, to the skies. (CP 4) 

The motivation of the soul f o r i t s f l i g h t i s a l l important. 

What i t w i l l f i n d i n the sky to assuage i t s loneliness i s the 

' p u r i f i e d ' swan: 

A bronze r a i n from the sun descending marks 
The death of summer, which that time endures 

Like one who scrawls a l i s t l e s s testament 
Of golden quirks and Paphian caricatures, 

Bequething your white feathers to the moon 
And giving your bland motions to the a i r . (CP 4) 

The "chariots" of the ganders had been the conveyance, pre-• 

sumably, of the soul. They are " c h i l l y " now because, quite 

l i t e r a l l y , the "bronze r a i n " of the sun at the end of summer 

bronzes them, turns them into the statues that "The crows... 

anoint with t h e i r d i r t . " The r a i n k i l l s the motion and the 

beauty of the ganders - the things i\rhich had made them swans, 

as i t were. If the soul i s to f i n d a conveyance, i t w i l l not 

be i n the concrete image of the swans but i n t h e i r l i f e and 

beauty; i f the time dismisses l i f e and beauty to the unreal -

as i t does i n i t s "testament/Of golden quirks and Paphian c a r i -

catures" ( i . e . caricatures because love of the image has replaced 



98 

love of the l i v i n g goddess), then the soul w i l l f i n d i t s con-

veyance there. The unreal becomes more r e a l than the r e a l 

because the unreal has a l l the l i f e of the r e a l . Plato's un-

r e a l was unreal because he placed objects there which could not 

possibly exist i n the unreal; Stevens' unreal i s r e a l because 

what's placed there i s released from i t s embodiment i n object. 

The difference i s made s t i l l clearer by "Lions i n Sweden," 

Stevens' most open reference to the technique of existent images: 

No more phrases, Swenson: I was once 
A hunter of those sovereigns of the soul 
And savings banks, Fides, the sculptor's p r i z e , 
A l l eyes and s i z e , and galled J u s t i t i a , 
Trained to poise the tables of the law, 
P a t i e n t i a , forever soothing wounds, 
And mighty Fortitudo, f r a n t i c bass. 
But. these s h a l l not adorn my souvenirs, 
These l i o n s , these majestic images. 
I f the f a u l t i s with the soul, the sovereigns 
Of the soul must likewise be at f a u l t , and f i r s t . 
If the f a u l t i s with the souvenirs, yet these 
Are the soul i t s e l f . And the whole of the soul. 

Swenson, 
As every man i n Sweden w i l l concede, 
S t i l l hankers a f t e r l i o n s , or to s h i f t , 
S t i l l hankers a f t e r sovereign images. 
If the f a u l t i s with the l i o n s , send them back 
To Monsieur Dufy's Hamburg whence they came. 
The vegetation s t i l l abounds with forms. (CP 124-25) 

Ramon Guthrie and William York T i n d a l l have both explained the 

a l l u s i o n i n the penultimate l i n e , but T i n d a l l ' s explication i s 

an i l l u s t r a t i o n that explanation i s not always understanding: 

P l a i n l y i n a French t r a d i t i o n , was Stevens i n the 
symbolist t r a d i t i o n ? Attempts to answer t h i s question 
raise others. Take "Lions "in Sweden." These stone 
l i o n s of Stockholm, a l l e g o r i c a l images of bourgeois 
virtues ...are suitable for savings banks. Absurd 
perhaps, yet somehow the soul hankers a f t e r such 
"sovereign images." If the f a u l t of these l i o n s i s 
t h e i r s , Stevens t e l l s Swenson, "send them back...." 
This c a l l s for explanation. Raoul Dufy i l l u s t r a t e d 
Guillaume A p o l l i n a i r e • s Le Bestlare. Hamburg, a 
supplier of zoological specimens, stands for bestiary 
here; and a bestiary i s commonly a l l e g o r i c a l . Yet 
A p o l l i n a i r e , author of a bestiary, i s i n the symbolist 
t r a d i t i o n , whatever that i s ; and vegetation abounding 



99 

with forms suggests Baudelaire's "forest of symbols. 

Stevens i s i n the symbolist t r a d i t i o n , as I s h a l l show, 

and "Lions i n Sweden" i s a wonderful example of what symbolism 

means. The central opposition i n the poem i s between "souvenirs" 

and "sovereign images." The soul has "souvenirs" which "Are 

the soul i t s e l f " . They are, i n other words, the soul's con-

sciousness of i t s existence, awarenesses of i t s e l f i t has pick-

ed up i n i t s l i f e . "Sovereigns of the soul," however, have a 

twofold function.. The i n i t i a l "sovereigns of the soul" are 

also of "savings banks." It i s of these that the narrator refers 

when he says "these s h a l l not adorn my souvenirs." Now, i n one 

sense, such "sovereign images" are tangible representations of 

the soul's awareness of i t s l i f e - the coins, the photos, the 

claptrap one keeps to prove that one has been there - but i n 

another sense, they are "sovereigns of the soul" because they 

are above or superior to i t - master of i t . The soul, then, 

rejects those sovereign images which f a i l to correspond to i t s 

awareness of i t s e l f - "the whole of the soul." Those who succumb 

to the 'myth of the state' immerse t h e i r souls i n a 'mess of 

pottage;' the "sovereign images" which w i l l s a t i s f y the soul 

must be more than adornments and more even than souvenirs (the 

awareness of existence) - they must be masters of that existence 

(masters to which the soul's existence i s dedicated). The l i o n s 

i n Sweden are caricatures of that mastery - stone images of an 

image. A p o l l i n a i r e , the symbolist, was well aware of t h e i r i n -

adequacy, as Guthrie points out: 

"Monsieur Dufy's Hamburg".... i s c l e a r l y a reference to 
Guillame A p o l l i n a i r e ' s Le Bestiare ou l e Cortege d'  
Orphee... In the woodcut, the lion,, the animal i s 



100 

shown i n the heraldic p o s i t i o n known as s a l i e n t 
against the background of a seaport. ...Apollinaire* 
quatrain beneath reads: 

0 l i o n , malheureuse image 
Des r o i s chuse lamentablement, 
Tu ne nais maintenant qu'en cage 
A Hambourg chez les Allemands. 

The l i o n i s indeed an image only of f a l l e n royalty when i t 

exists i n cages. But i n l i f e one s t i l l can find free l i o n s -

"the vegetation abounds with forms" - who w i l l remain adequate 

images of royalty as long as they are not captured by the cage 

of concept (I.e. as long as both image and concept l i v e freely) 

The l i o n i s one of Stevens' variable symbols whose v a r i a -

t i o n , i n i t s recurrence i n h i s poems, finds i t s expression i n 

"The Man With The Blue Guitar": 

That I may reduce the monster to 
Myself, and then may be myself 

In face of the monster 

Or better not of myself at a l l , 
But of that as i t s i n t e l l i g e n c e , 

Being the l i o n i n the lute 
Before the l i o n locked i n stone. (CP 175) 

It w i l l recur. 

The point now, however, i s to continue the comparison be-

tween Stevens and the two philosophers. The nature of the d i s -

t i n c t i o n between Stevens' images and Plato's should now be 

c l e a r . It i s most emphatically not a difference describable i n 

terms of Coleridge's " d i s t i n c t i o n between Imagination and Fancy 

as Pack suggests i n speaking of Stevens' terminology: 
The imagination "discovers order, but also imposes It 
This d i s t i n c t i o n derives from Coleridge, who used the 
term "primary imagination" f o r the former and "sec-
ondary imagination" for the l a t t e r . But there i s 
another a c t i v i t y of the mind which Coleridge c a l l s 
"the fancy" and describes as "a mode of memory eman-
cipated' from the order of time and space." With 



101 

Stevens, however, the fancy i s not so c l e a r l y d i s -
tinguished from the imagination, but i s part of i t s 
functioning. Inasmuch as fancy i s removed from "the 
order of time and space," that part of the imagination 
w i l l produce f i c t i o n s that do not describe what i s 
r e a l 
....When Stevens says "the figure i s a l l imagination," 
as he does i n reference to Plato's figure i t i s 
equivalent to Coleridge c a l l i n g i t fancy, for i t i s 
imagination working apart from the r e a l i t y . ...A 
figure that comes only from the Imagination i s an i n -
vention, an imposition of order.°5 

This i s nothing but contradictory nonsense. Not only does Pack 

s h i f t from c o r r e l a t i n g "the imposition of order" with Coleridge's 

"secondary imagination" to c o r r e l a t i n g i t with "fancy," he also 

ignores the fact that Stevens was well aware of what Coleridge 

thought. Stevens uses fancy to describe General Jackson's 

statue and not Plato's f i g u r e : 

This work [General Jackson's statue] i s a work of fancy. 
Dr. Richards c i t e s Coleridge's theory of fancy as 
opposed to imagination. Fancy i s an a c t i v i t y of the 
mind which puts things together of choice, not the * 
the w i l l , as a p r i n c i p l e of the mind's being, s t r i v -
ing to r e a l i z e I t s e l f i n knowing i t s e l f . Fancy, then, 
i s an exercise of s e l e c t i o n from among objects already 
supplied by association, a selection made for purposes 
which are not then and therein being shaped but have 
already been fixed. (NA 10-11) 

The "fancy," for both Coleridge and Stevens, i s an exercise i n 

r i g i d realism; i t treats f i x i t i e s as f i n a l i t i e s and never a t -

tempts to transform them. The imagination adhering to the un-

r e a l i s not the same as the fancy which i s non-creative because 

enslaved by the r e a l . So says Coleridge about r e a l and unreal: 

Hence the mystic theologians, whose delusions we may 
more confidently hope to separate from t h e i r actual 
i n t u i t i o n s , when we condescend to read t h e i r works 
without the presumption that whatever our fancy 
(always the ape, and too often the adulterator and 
counterfeit of our memory) has not made or cannot 
make a picture of, must be nonsense - hence, I say, 
the Mystics have joined i n representing the state of 
the reprobate s p i r i t s as a dreadful dream i n which 



102 

there i s no sense of r e a l i t y 1 . . 6 6 

As to Coleridge's d i s t i n c t i o n between two "degrees" and 

"modes" of the same imagination, 67 there i s l i t t l e evidence 

that Stevens was concerned with i t as a basis for h i s d i s t i n c -

t i o n between c e n t r a l and marginal poets. I f we take Shawcross' 

conception of the d i s t i n c t i o n , i t would appear to be one which 

precedes Stevens' d i s t i n c t i o n s between poets and between poets 

and philosophers: 

The d i s t i n c t i o n here drawn by Coleridge between two 
degrees of imagination i s evidently between the 
imagination as u n i v e r s a l l y active i n consciousness 
(creative i n that i t externalizes the world of objects 
by opposing i t to the s e l f ) and the same faculty i n a 
heightened power as creative i n the poetic sense. In 
the f i r s t case our exercise of the power i s uncon-
scious: i n the second the w i l l d i r e c t s , though i t does 
not determine, the a c t i v i t y of the imagination. The 
imagination of the ordinary man i s capable only of 
detaching the world of experience from the s e l f and 
contemplating i t i n i t s detachment; but the philoso-
pher penetrates to the underlying harmony and gives 
i t concrete expression. The ordinary consciousness, 
with no p r i n c i p l e of u n i f i c a t i o n , sees the universe 
as a mass of p a r t i c u l a r s : only the poet can depict 
t h i s whole as r e f l e c t e d i n the i n d i v i d u a l parts.68 

The trouble with Plato's figure, i n Coleridge's terms, i s 

that i t i s a l l e g o r i c a l rather than symbolic - a difference which 

w i l l be f u l l y explained i n the second section of t h i s paper. 

The point, at the moment, i s to a f f i r m that Coleridge's sense 

of symbol i s derived from Kant's affirmations about the nature 

of absolutes and that Stevens' sense of symbol i s i n accord 

with Coleridge's. Stevens says l i t t l e about Kant, but what he 

says i s informative: 

The philosopher proves that the philosopher e x i s t s . 
The poet merely enjoys existence. The philosopher 
thinks of the world as an enormous pastiche or, as 
he puts i t , the world i s as the percipient. Thus 
Kant says that the objects of perception are con-
ditioned by the nature of the mind as to t h e i r form. 



103 

But the poet says that, whatever i t may be, l a vie  
est plus b e l l e que les idees. (NA 5 6 - 5 ? ) 

In part, of course, Stevens' objection to Kant here p a r a l l e l s 

Santayana's - Kant's " t e r r i b l e negation" was that "Everything 

conceivable would have collapsed into the act of conceiving i t , 

and t h i s act i t s e l f would have l o s t i t s terms and i t s purpose" 6 9 

- but i f the question of the form of "objects of perception" i s 

pursued, one discovers the difference between existence and 

enjoyment of that existence. Kant's l o g i c a l deduction of the 

nature of Categories of the Understanding seemed to e n t a i l the 

c o r o l l o r y that Ideas of Reason could never be known empirically. 

It was this consequence of his reasoning that made the young 

Vale'ry f e e l that Kant had "destroyed metaphysics," and which 

l e d to Kant's objection against Plato. But there i s a curious 

passage i n Kant which seems to o f f e r a way out of the dilemma» 

...suppose we combine the apparently contradictory 
command to proceed to concepts outside the f i e l d of 
the Immanent (empirical) use of the i n t e l l e c t with 
the command to avoid a l l transcendent judgements of 
pure reason. We then become aware that both commands 
may p r e v a i l together, but just on the boundary of a l l 
admissable use of reason. This boundary belongs as 
much to the f i e l d of experience as to that of the 
beings created by thought. At the same time we are 
taught how those strange ideas merely serve to 
determine the boundaries of human reason. On the one 
hand, we must not seek to extend beyond a l l bounds 
knowledge based on experience, for then nothing but a 
mere phenomenal world remains f o r us to know. On the 
other hand, we must not seek to transcend the boundar-
ies of experience and to judge things outside experi-
ence as things-in-themselves. 

We are keeping to this boundary when we l i m i t our 
judgement to the r e l a t i o n the world may have to a 
Being whose concept l i e s outside a l l that knowledge 
of which we are capable within t h i s world. In this 
case we are not a t t r i b u t i n g to the Supreme Being i t -
s e l f any of the q u a l i t i e s by which we conceive the 
objects of experience and we are thus avoiding 
dogmatic anthropomorphism. But we do a t t r i b u t e these 
q u a l i t i e s to the relations of the Supreme Being to 
the world. We are thereby allowing ourselves a 



104 

symbolical anthropomorphism x-jhich, as, a matter of 
f a c t , only concerns the language and not the object. 

When I say that we are impelled to regard the 
world as i f i t were the work of a supreme w i l l and 
i n t e l l e c t , I am not r e a l l y saying more than . . . a l l 
that constitutes the basis of this aggregate of 
phenomena, i s related to the unknown, which I con-
ceive, not according to what i t i s i n i t s e l f but 
according to what i t i s f o r me i n regard to the 
world of which I am a part. 

An insight such as this i s gained by analogy, 
not i n the usual meaning" of an imperfect resemblance 
of two things, but of a perfect resemblance of two 
r e l a t i o n s between t o t a l l y d i s s i m i l a r things.7 0 

There i s a great deal i n Stevens' xvork that smacks of the 

Kantian; his concluding observations on the i r r a t i o n a l , for 

example, bring into play Kantian concepts of l i m i t and r e l a t i o n : 

The i r r a t i o n a l bears the same r e l a t i o n to the r a t i o n a l 
that the unknown bears to the known, ...I do not for 
a moment mean to indulge i n mystical r h e t o r i c , since 
for my part, I have no patience with that sort of 
thing. That; the unknown as the source of knowledge, 
as the object of thought, i s part of the dynamics of 
the known does not permit of d e n i a l . ...We accept 
the unknown even when we are most s k e p t i c a l . We may 
resent the consideration of i t by any but the most 
l u c i d minds; but when so considered, i t has seduc-
tions more poxverful and more profound than those of 
the knox<m. 

Just so, there are those who, having never yet 
been convinced that the r a t i o n a l has quite made us 
d i v i n e , are w i l l i n g to assume the e f f i c a c y of the i r -
r a t i o n a l i n that respect. The r a t i o n a l mind, dealing 
with the known, expects to f i n d i t g l i s t e n i n g i n a 
f a m i l i a r ether. What i t r e a l l y finds i s the unknown 
always behind and beyond the known, giving i t the 
appearance, at best, of chiaroscuro 

The poet cannot 
profess the i r r a t i o n a l as the p r i e s t professes the 
unknown.. The poet's role i s broader, because he must 
be possessed, along with everything else, by the 
earth and by men i n t h e i r earthly implications. (OP 2 2 7 - 2 9 ! 

Even the Kantian concept of analogy finds i t s way into Stevens' 

poems: indeed, i n varying forms, i t composes the basis of his 

technique. What better i l l u s t r a t i o n of Kant's d e f i n i t i o n of 

analogy could one f i n d than the poem "Les Plus Belles Pages" 



105 
and Stevens' note on i t ? 

The milkman came i n the moonlight and the moonlight 
Was less than moonlight. Nothing exists by i t s e l f . 
The moonlight seemed to. 

Two people, three horses, an .ox 
And the sun, the waves together i n the sea. 

The moonlight and Aquinas seemed to. He spoke, 
Kept speaking, of God, I changed the word to man. 
The automaton, i n l o g i c self-contained, 
Existed by i t s e l f . Or did the saint survive? 
Did several s p i r i t s assume a single shape? 

Theology a f t e r breakfast sticks to the eye. (CP 2 4 4 - ^ 5 ) 

Apparently the poem means that the conjunction of 
milkman and moonlight i s the equivalent of the con-
junction of l o g i c i a n and saint. What i t r e a l l y means 
i s that the i n t e r - r e l a t i o n between things i s what 
makes them fecund. Interaction i s the source of 
poetry. Sex i s an i l l u s t r a t i o n . But the p r i n c i p l e 
i s not confined to the i l l u s t r a t i o n . The milkman 
and the moonlight are an i l l u s t r a t i o n . The two people, 
the three horses, etc., are i l l u s t r a t i o n s . The 
p r i n c i p l e finds i t s best i l l u s t r a t i o n i n the i n t e r -
action of our f a c u l t i e s or of our thoughts and 
emotions. Aquinas i s a c l a s s i c example: a figure 
of great modern i n t e r e s t , whose special force seems 
to come from the i n t e r a c t i o n of his prodigious love 
of God. The idea that his theology, as such, i s In-
volved i s dismissed i n the l a s t l i n e . That the ex-
ample i s not of scholarly choice i s indicated by the 
t i t l e . But the t i t l e also means that les plus b e l l e s 
pages are those i n which things do not stand alone, 
but are operative as the r e s u l t of i n t e r - a c t i o n , i n t e r -
r e l a t i o n . This i s an idea of some consequence, not a 
casual improvisation. The i n t e r - r e l a t i o n between 
r e a l i t y and the imagination i s the basis of the char-
acter of l i t e r a t u r e . The i n t e r - r e l a t i o n between 
r e a l i t y and the emotions i s the basis of the v i t a l i t y 
of l i t e r a t u r e , between r e a l i t y and thought, the basis 
of i t s power. (OP 293-9^) 

The "two r e l a t i o n s between t o t a l l y d i s s i m i l a r things" are 

the r e l a t i o n between moonlight and milkman and that between 

Aquinas the l o g i c i a n and Aquinas the saint. There i s an analogy 

between these relations - fa perfect resemblance" - and i t i s 

analogy which makes the poem work. Without belaboring the 

obvious, i t should be pointed out that Stevens thinks both the 



I 106 

r e l a t i o n s are, i n themselves "fecund" (using sex as an i l l u s t r a -

t i o n , fecund r e l a t i o n s have o f f s p r i n g ) . What's fecund about 

the milkman-moonlight r e l a t i o n i s that the milkman's intrusion 

leads to the observation "Nothing exists by i t s e l f . " In this 

case, the moonlight had seemed to e x i s t by i t s e l f , u n t i l the 

i n t r u s i o n of the milkman reminded the narrator that the moon 

r e f l e c t s the l i g h t of the sun and that r e f l e c t e d l i g h t i s i n 

turn r e f l e c t e d by the milkman. By i t s e l f , such a r e l a t i o n i s 

useless, but i t informs the analogy with the Aquinas r e l a t i o n 

and that i s important. The narrator thinks Aquinas, l i k e the 

moonlight, exists by himself. He therefore substitutes the 

word "man" whenever Aquinas speaks the word "God." But what he 

discovers, i f the analogy between the two relations i s to be 

taken seriously, i s that Aquinas without God i s less than 

Aquinas. Aquinas i s , l i k e moonlight, r e a l l y a r e f l e c t i o n - a 

r e f l e c t i o n of God. As saint, he i s symbol of the unknown. The 

aura of h i s sainthood cannot be reduced or explained i n terms 

of h i s l o g i c . The intangible power of "his prodigious love" i s 

too much a part of what Aquinas experientally i s . What Stevens 

means when he says "his theology, as such, i s dismissed i n the 

l a s t l i n e , " i s that Aquinas i s symbolic because he contains 

within himself the l i v i n g r e l a t i o n between the known and the un-

known and not because of his " l o g i c a l proofs" of the absolute 

nature of that unknown. 

The g i s t of both Kant's concept of symbolism and Stevens' 

theory of "central poetry" i s that language as designation i s 

supplanted by language as r e l a t i o n - the meaningful content of 

language i s not what i t designates but what the formal r e l a t i o n s 



107 

within i t s i g n i f y . But Kant's t e l l i n g phrase, that symbolical 

anthropomorphism "only involves the language and not the object," 

reveals that the accord between concept and theory i s not com-

p l e t e . For Kant, analogical symbolism can o f f e r transcendental 

ideas - psychological, cosmological and theological - which, 

" i f they do not i n s t r u c t us p o s i t i v e l y , at least serve to repu-

diate the audacious assertions of materialism, naturalism and 

f a t a l i s m that narrowly r e s t r i c t the f i e l d of reason," 7 1 but 

they cannot "gain the general acceptance that reason requires 

. . . " 7 2 For philosophic reason there i s always the search for 

the f a t e f u l integration which exists apart from our knowledge 

of i t and which alone i s true. But for Stevens, the formal 

r e l a t i o n s of the analogical symbol are the truth, because they 

are pragmatically d i s c e r n i b l e indications of the nature of the 

unknown soul. When Stevens writes "A poet's words are of things 

that do not exist without the words," (NA 3 2 ) he makes the^re-

l a t i o n a l aspect of language paramount; and when he i n s i s t s that 

poetry i s truth, he i s affirming that the r e l a t i o n a l power of 

words has i n i t the "magical" q u a l i t y of revelation". "Poetry i s 

a r e v e l a t i o n i n words by means of the words." (NA 3 3 ) 

To make these observations about the r e l a t i o n between Kant 

and Stevens i s to do no more than a f f i r m that the philosophical 

ground of the theory of "central poetry" i s Identical with that 

which Cassirer used to j u s t i f y his philosophy of symbolic form. 

Now, the advance made by Cassirer over the philosophy of Kant 

i s e s s e n t i a l l y this-: both Kant and Cassirer deny the adequacy 

of designation, but Cassirer does not follow Kant i n denying 

the adequacy of r e l a t i o n (which i s symbolic form) as truth. To 



108 

demonstrate the nature of t h i s advance, i t i s necessary to quote 

at length from the introductory argument i n the f i r s t volume of 

Cassirer's The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms. The s p e c i f i c 

argument has the s u b t i t l e "Ideational Content of the Sign. 

Transcending the Copy Theory of Knowledge"73 and i t s movement 

i s from the concept of "natural symbolism"?^ to the concept of 

symbolic forms 

A r t i s t i c delineation becomes what i t i s and i s 
distinguished from a mere mechanistic reproduction, 
only through itfhat i t omits from the "given" impression. 
It does not r e f l e c t t h i s impression i n i t s sensuous 
t o t a l i t y , but rather selects certain "pregnant" fac-
tors, i . e . , factors through which the given impression 
i s amplified beyond i t s e l f and through which the a r t -
i s t i c - c o n s t r u c t i v e fantasy, the synthetic s p a t i a l im-
agination, i s guided i n a c e r t a i n d i r e c t i o n . What 
constitutes the true force of the sign, here as i n 
other f i e l d s , i s p r e c i s e l y thiss that as the immediate, 
determinate contents recede, the general factors of 
form and r e l a t i o n become a l l the sharper and c l e a r e r . 
The p a r t i c u l a r as such i s seemingly l i m i t e d ; but 
p r e c i s e l y thereby that operation which we have c a l l e d 
"integration" i s effected the more c l e a r l y and force-
f u l l y . We have seen that the p a r t i c u l a r of conscious-
ness " e x i s t s " only i n so f a r as i t p o t e n t i a l l y contains 
the whole and is,as i t were, i n constant t r a n s i t i o n 
towards the whole. But the use of the sign l i b e r a t e s 
t h i s p o t e n t i a l i t y and enables i t to become true actu-
a l i t y . Now, one blow s t r i k e s a thousand connected 
chords which a l l vibrate more or less f o r c e f u l l y and 
c l e a r l y i n the sign. In positing the sign, conscious-
ness detaches i t s e l f more and more from the d i r e c t 
substratum of sensation and sensory i n t u i t i o n : but 
p r e c i s e l y therein i t reveals i t s inherent, o r i g i n a l 
power of synthesis and u n i f i c a t i o n 

What would seem to 
constitute the bias of "empiricism" as well as abstract 
"idealism" i s p r e c i s e l y that neither of them f u l l y and 
c l e a r l y develops t h i s fundamental r e l a t i o n . One posits 
a concept of the given p a r t i c u l a r but f a i l s to recog-
nize that any such concept must always, e x p l i c i t l y or 
i m p l i c i t l y , encompass the defining attributes of some 
universal; the other asserts the necessity and v a l i d i t y 
of these attributes but f a i l s to designate the medium 
through which they can be represented i n the given 
psychological world of consciousness. I f , however, we 
s t a r t not with abstract postulates but from the concrete 
basic form of s p i r i t u a l l i f e , t h i s d u a l i s t i c a n t i t h e s i s 



109 

i s resolved. The i l l u s i o n of an o r i g i n a l d i v i s i o n 
between the i n t e l l i g i b l e and the sensuous, between 
"idea" and "phenomenon," vanishes. True, we s t i l l 
remain i n a world of "images" - but these are not 
images which reproduce a self-subsistent world of 
"things"; they are image-worlds whose p r i n c i p l e and 
o r i g i n are to be sought i n an autonomous creation of 
the s p i r i t . Through them alone we see what we c a l l 
" r e a l i t y , " and i n them alone we possess i t s for the 
highest objective truth that i s accessible to the 
s p i r i t i s ultimately the form of i t s own a c t i v i t y . 
In the t o t a l i t y of i t s own achievements, in the 
knowledge of the s p e c i f i c rule by which each of them 
i s determined and i n the consciousness of the context 
which reunites a l l these special rules into one prob-
lem and one solutions i n a l l t h i s , the human s p i r i t 
now perceives i t s e l f and r e a l i t y . True, the question 
of what, apart from these s p i r i t u a l functions, con-
s t i t u t e s absolute r e a l i t y , the question of what the 
"thing i n i t s e l f " may be i n t h i s sense, remains un-
answered, except that more and more we learn to re-
cognise i t as a f a l l a c y i n formulation, an i n t e l l e c -
t u a l phantasm. The true concept of r e a l i t y cannot 
be squeezed into the form of mere abstract being; i t 
opens out into the d i v e r s i t y and richness of the forms 
of s p i r i t u a l l i f e - but of a s p i r i t u a l l i f e which 
bears the stamp of inner necessity and hence of object-
i v i t y . In t h i s sense each new "symbolic form" - not 
only the conceptual x\rorld of s c i e n t i f i c cognition but 
also the i n t u i t i v e world of a r t , myth, and language -
constitutes, as Goethe said, a revelation sent outward 
from within, a "synthesis of world and s p i r i t , " which-
t r u l y assures us that the two are o r i g i n a l l y one. 

And here new l i g h t i s cast upon a l a s t fundamental 
a n t i t h e s i s ....Its "subjective" trend has led philos-
ophy more and more to focus the t o t a l i t y of i t s prob-
lems i n the concept of l i f e rather than the concept of 
being. But though t h i s seemed to appease the a n t i t h -
e s i s of s u b j e c t i v i t y and o b j e c t i v i t y i n the form man-
i f e s t e d by dogmatic ontology ... now, i n the sphere of 
l i f e i t s e l f a s t i l l more r a d i c a l a n t i t h e s i s appeared. 
The truth of l i f e seems to be given only i n i t s pure 
Immediacy, to be enclosed i n i t - but any attempt to 
understand and apprehend l i f e seems to endanger, i f 
not to negate, t h i s immediacy 

It would seem, therefore, 
that any understanding of s p i r i t u a l l i f e must choose 
between the two extremes. We are c a l l e d upon to decide 
whether to seek the substance of the human s p i r i t i n 
i t s pure o r i g i n a l i t y , which precedes a l l mediate con-
figurations - or whether to surrender ourselves to 
the richness and d i v e r s i t y of these mediate forms. 
Only i n the f i r s t approach do we seem to touch upon 
the true and authentic center of l i f e , which however 
appears as a simple self-enclosed, center; i n the second, 



110 

we survey the entire drama of s p i r i t u a l developments, 
but as we immerse ourselves i n i t , i t dissolves more 
and more manifestly into a mere drama, a r e f l e c t e d 
image, without independent truth and essence. The 
cleavage between these two antitheses - i t would seem -
cannot be bridged by any e f f o r t of mediating thought 
which i t s e l f remains e n t i r e l y on one side of the an-
t i t h e s i s ; the farther we advance i n the d i r e c t i o n of 
the symbolic, the merely f i g u r a t i v e , the farther we 
go from the primal source of pure i n t u i t i o n . 

Philosophical mysticism has not been alone i n 
i t s constant confrontation of t h i s problem and i t s 
dilemma; the pure logic of idealism has repeatedly 
seen i t and formulated i t . Plato's remarks i n h i s 
Seventh E p i s t l e on the r e l a t i o n of the "idea" to the 
"sign" and on the necessary Inadequacy of t h i s r e l a t i o n , 
s t r i k e a motif which has recurred i n a l l manner of 
v a r i a t i o n s . ...Even Kant, who assigned i t s exact l o g i c a l 
p o s i t i o n to t h i s idea by defining i t as a mere border-
l i n e concept of cognition, and who believed that i n so 
doing he had c r i t i c a l l y mastered i t - even Kant ... 
once again sharply develops the a n t i t h e s i s ...between 
the i n t u i t i v e archetypal i n t e l l e c t and the discursive 
i n t e l l e c t "which i s dependent on images." Prom the 
standpoint of t h i s a n t i t h e s i s i t x«rould seem to follow 
that the r i c h e r the symbolic content of cognition or 
of any other c u l t u r a l form becomes, the more i t s es-
s e n t i a l content must diminish. A l l the many images 
do not designate, but cloak and conceal the Imageless 
One, which stands behind them and towards which they 
s t r i v e i n vain. Only the negation of a l l f i n i t e f i g -
uration, only a return to the "pure nothingness" of 
the mystics can lead us back to the true primal source 
of being. Seen i n a d i f f e r e n t l i g h t , t h i s a n t i t h e s i s 
takes the form of a constant tension between "culture" 
and " l i f e . " For i t i s the necessary destiny of c u l -
ture that everything which i t creates i n i t s constant 
process of configuration and education removes us more 
and more from the o r i g i n a l i t y , o f l i f e . The more r i c h l y 
and energetically the human s p i r i t engages i n i t s 
formative a c t i v i t y , the farther t h i s very a c t i v i t y 
seems to remove i t from the primal source of i t s own 
being. More and more, i t appears to be imprisoned i n 
i t s own creations - In the words of language, i n the 
images of myth or a r t , i n the i n t e l l e c t u a l symbols of 
cognition, which cover i t l i k e a d e l i c a t e and trans-
parent, but unbreachable veil....To philosophy, which 
finds i t s f u l f i l l m e n t only i n the sharpness of concept 
•and i n the c l a r i t y of "discursive" thought, the par-
adise of mysticism, the paradise of pure immediacy, i s 
closed. ...Instead of taking the road back, i t must 
attempt to continue forward. If a l l culture i s man-
i f e s t e d i n the creation of s p e c i f i c image-worlds, of 
s p e c i f i c symbolic forms, the aim of philosophy Is not 
to go behind a l l these creations, but rather to 



I l l 

understand and elucidate t h e i r basic formative 
p r i n c i p l e . ...In truth, the negation of the symbolic 
forms would not help us to apprehend the essence of 
l i f e ; i t would rather destroy the s p i r i t u a l form with 
which for us t h i s essence proves to be bound up. If 
we take the opposite d i r e c t i o n , we do not pursue the 
idea of a passive i n t u i t i o n of s p i r i t u a l r e a l i t y , but 
situate ourselves i n the midst of i t s a c t i v i t y . If 
we approach s p i r i t u a l l i f e , not as the s t a t i c con-
templation of being, but as functions and energies of 
formation, we s h a l l f i n d c e r t a i n common and'typical 
p r i n c i p l e s of formation, diverse and d i s s i m i l a r as 
these forms may be. If the philosophy of culture 
succeeds i n apprehending and elucidating such basic 
p r i n c i p l e s , i t w i l l have f u l f i l l e d , i n a new sense, 
i t s task of demonstrating the unity of the s p i r i t as 
opposed to the m u l t i p l i c i t y of i t s manifestations -
for the clearest evidence of this unity i s p r e c i s e l y 
that the d i v e r s i t y of the products of the human s p i r i t 
'does not impair the unity of i t s productive process, 
but rather sustains and confirms it"775 

If Stevens read this argument, he did so at a time when 

a l l his ideas were formulated, when a l l but a f r a c t i o n of h i s 

poetry was written. But nonetheless, the "productive process" 

of symbolic forms i s precisely the formative p r i n c i p l e upon which 

h i s writing was based. Its p a r t i c u l a r name i s "the habit of 

probing f o r an integration" and i t s manifestation i s the con-

t i n u a l transcendence of the designative function of the word by 

means of the p r o l i f e r a t i o n of r e l a t i o n s between each word and 

every other word. What one finds i n Cassirer i s both a statement 

of the necessity for the mode of existence of central poetry and 

a statement of the promise i m p l i c i t i n that process. To make 

symbols x^hich are not "merely f i g u r a t i v e " but which partake of 

temporal order and to indicate the permanent p r i n c i p l e of unity 

within that changing order by showing the s i g n i f i c a n t form of 

r e l a t i o n (which includes variation) i s the task of the c e n t r a l 

poet. 

Out of Stevens' basic r e j e c t i o n of an a n t i t h e s i s between 



112 

r e a l i t y and the imagination and out of h i s acceptance of the 
c o n t r a d i c t i o n between the image and the l i f e of the image, came 
the techniques of " c e n t r a l poetry." B a s i c a l l y , those techniques 
were grounded upon the c o n v i c t i o n that the concept of r e l a t i o n a l 
form i s progressive and could be a p p l i e d to a body of poetry as 
a f o r c e of development. The d i r e c t i o n of that development, i n 
Stevens' C o l l e c t e d Poems, i s from the d e c r e a t i o n of the p a r t i c -
u l a r , sharply d i f f e r e n t i a t e d , image to the c r e a t i o n , i n con-
sciousness, of a world of t o t a l l y r e l e a s e d images - a world which 
Frye, d e s p i t e i n c o n s i s t e n c i e s i n h i s argument, a c c u r a t e l y d e l i n -
eates: 

The t h e o r e t i c a l p o s t u l a t e of Stevens' poetry i s a world 
of t o t a l metaphor, where the poet's v i s i o n may be iden-
t i f i e d w i t h anything i t v i s u a l i z e s . For such poetry 
the most accurate word i s a p o c a l y p t i c , a poetry of 
" r e v e l a t i o n " i n which a l l objects and experiences are 
u n i t e d with a t o t a l mind.7 ° 

" A p o c a l y p t i c " i s one of Frye's key c r i t i c a l terms; he de-
f i n e s i t i n h i s Anatomy of C r i t i c i s m : 

In the anagogic phase, l i t e r a t u r e i m i t a t e s the t o t a l 
dream of man, and so i m i t a t e s the thought of a human 
mind which i s at the circumference and not. at the 
center, of i t s r e a l i t y . We see here the completion of 
the imaginative r e v o l u t i o n begun when we passed from 
the d e s c r i p t i v e to the formal phase of symbolism. 
There, the i m i t a t i o n of nature s h i f t e d from a r e f l e c -
t i o n of e x t e r n a l nature to a formal o r g a n i z a t i o n of 
which nature was the content. But i n the formal 
phase the poem i s s t i l l contained by nature, and i n 
the a r c h e t y p a l phase the whole of poetry i s s t i l l 
contained w i t h i n the n a t u r a l or p l a u s i b l e . When we 
pass i n t o anagogy, nature becomes, not the c o n t a i n e r , 
but the t h i n g contained, and the archetypal' u n i v e r s a l 
symbols, the c i t y , the garden, the quest, the marriage, 
are no longer the d e s i r a b l e forms that man c o n s t r u c t s 
i n s i d e nature, but are themselves the forms of nature. 
Nature i s now i n s i d e the mind of an i n f i n i t e man who 
b u i l d s h i s c i t i e s out of the Milky Way. This i s not 
r e a l i t y , but i t i s the conceivable or imaginative 
l i m i t of d e s i r e , which i s i n f i n i t e , e t e r n a l , and hence 
a p o c a l y p t i c . By an apocalypse I mean p r i m a r i l y the 



113 
imaginative conception of the whole of nature as the 
content of an i n f i n i t e and e t e r n a l l i v i n g body which 
i f not human, i s c l o s e r to being human than inhuman.77 

Despite the c o n t i n u i n g and p e r n i c i o u s confusion between r e a l 
and u n r e a l h e r e i n , Frye's d i s t i n c t i o n between nature as con-
t a i n e r and nature as contained Is a good d e s c r i p t i o n of the 
d i f f e r e n c e between the d e s i g n a t i v e symbol (which i s always i n -
adequate because i t does not c o n t a i n temporal order and i s 
t h e r e f o r e destroyed by time) and the r e l a t i o n a l symbol (which 
does c o n t a i n temporal order because i t i s a completed act and 
not a t h i n g or the i m i t a t i o n of a t h i n g ) . 

The i d e a l of, and the o b j e c t i o n s t o , a p o c a l y p t i c poetry 
have been defined by Paul V a l e r y : 

. . . i f the poet could manage to c o n s t r u c t works i n 
which nothing of prose ever appeared, poems i n which 
the musical c o n t i n u i t y was never broken, i n which 
the r e l a t i o n s between meanings were themselves per-
p e t u a l l y s i m i l a r to harmonic r e l a t i o n s , i n which the  
transmutation of thoughts i n t o each other appeared  
more important than any thought, In which the play 
of f i g u r e s contained the r e a l i t y of the subject -
then one could speak of pure poetry as of something 
that e x i s t e d . I t i s not so: the p r a c t i c a l or prag-
matic p a r t of language, the h a b i t s and l o g i c a l forms, 
and the d i s o r d e r and i r r a t i o n a l i t y that are found i n 
i t s vocabulary...make the existence of these c r e a t i o n s 
of absolute poetry impossible... 78 

Valery has In mind more than " t h e o r e t i c p o s t u l a t e s . " He sees 
the p o t e n t i a l of language as the shape of t r u t h , and he sees 
the f u n c t i o n of the poet as a p r a c t i c a l , r a t h e r than a v i s i o n a r y , 
f u n c t i o n - the f u n c t i o n of the d i s c o v e r e r of words and of the 
r e a l i t y i n f i g u r e s . His d e s c r i p t i o n of the mode of existence 
necessary f o r an absolute poetry i s a d e s c r i p t i o n of Stevens' 
poems. I t i s , at any r a t e , p a r a l l e l e d by c r i t i c a l accounts of 
Stevens' poems l i k e Frankenburg's f o r example - "Stevens', poetry 
plays a game of l i v i n g s t a t u e s , w h i r l i n g and f r e e z i n g , f r e e z i n g 



114 

and whirling. His poems combine the attitudes taken, with the 

w h i r l from attitude to a t t i t u d e ; the kaleidoscope, and the 

kaleidoscope shaken" 7 9 - and by Stevens' own description of 

"resemblances and the r e p e t i t i o n of resemblances as a source of 

the i d e a l : " (NA 81) 

In both prose and poetry, images come w i l l i n g l y but, 
usually, although there i s a r e l a t i o n between the 
subject of these images there i s no r e l a t i o n between 
the images themselves. A group of images i n harmony 
with each other would constitute a poem within, or 
above, a poem. (NA 78) 

Inasmuch as t h i s absolute poetry i s the end and object of 

the central poet's search for integrations and inasmuch as he 

does pursue that end by granting the inadequacy of images as 

embodiments of absolutes, i t should now be possible to "trace 

some of the general techniques Stevens' employs i n achieving 

h i s end. 



115 

PART II - Central Poetry: Syntax 

Everything w i l l be h e s i t a t i o n , d i s p o s i t i o n of parts, 
t h e i r alternations and relationships - a l l t h i s 
contributing to the rhythmic t o t a l i t y , which w i l l be 
the very silence of the poem, i n i t s blank spaces, 
as that silence i s translated by each s t r u c t u r a l 
element i n i t s own way....Then again the perfect 
symmetry of verses within the poem, of poems within 
the volume, w i l l extend even beyond the volume i t s e l f ; 
and t h i s w i l l be that creation of many poets who w i l l 
Inscribe, on s p i r i t u a l space, the expanded signature 
of genius - as anonymous and perfect as a work of a r t . 

Mallarme' - a description of "the Book" 
(trans. B. Cook) 

Comparisons between Mallarme and Stevens are not new to 

Stevens' c r i t i c s : Riddel has made an e x p l i c i t comparison between 

Stevens' "supreme f i c t i o n " and Mallarml's concept of "the Book,"l 

Hi Simons has drawn seven s p e c i f i c p a r a l l e l s between t h e i r 

techniques - including one between t h e i r use of "figures of a 

negative order" Intended to achieve "an i d e a l poem, a supra-

sensuous one that conveys i t s e f f e c t without tangible means or 

meanings...like Keat's unheard melodies," 2 and Morton Dauwen 

Zabel has seen i n Stevens' early poems a f r u i t f u l blending of 

"Mallarme's imagism ...absolute i n i t s claims, irreducible and 

exhaustive i n intention, refined and specialized i n i t s subtlety"3 

and "Hopkin's imagery . . . r e a l i s t i c i n basis ...as exhaustively 

and i n t e n t i o n a l l y r e a l i s t i c , at least i n intention, as the 

threading of a psychological maze i n Henry James."4 Preliminary 

proofs of the comparisons are not hard to f i n d . Stevens' hes-

i t a t i o n i n gathering together the poems of Harmonium,5 his 

repeated insistence on the relatedness of a l l poems,6 and his 

expressed intention to t i t l e Harmonium "The Grand Poem: 

Preliminary Minutia"7 and h i s Collected Poems "The Whole of 

Harmonium,"8 a l l a t t e s t to his involvement with a schema which 



116 

would lend o v e r a l l u n i t y to h i s work and make of h i s poems "a 
book, a r c h i t e c t u r a l and.premeditated, and not a m i s c e l l a n y of 
chance i n s p i r a t i o n s . . . " 9 l i k e that great Book envisaged by 
Mallarme'. 

The point now i s to examine, not so much the a c t u a l " d i s -
p o s i t i o n of p a r t s " i n Stevens' C o l l e c t e d Poems (that i s a task 
beyond my a b i l i t y at p r e s e n t ) , but some of the techniques by 
which those parts are disposed. Such a procedure i s free of 
a l l arguments but one, and that i s one which concerns the com-
p a r i s o n which i s the b a s i s f o r the p r o j e c t e d i n v e s t i g a t i o n . 
Not a l l c r i t i c s have acquiesced i n the s y m b o l i s t s ' attempts to 
appropriate Stevens as one of t h e i r own. Feldman, f o r example, 
a f f i r m s that "Stevens i s p r i m a r i l y a r e a l i s t . This i s , perhaps, 
h i s c h i e f d i v i g a t i o n from such a school as "symbolisme" and i t 
i s , a f t e r a l l , an important one."10 T i n d a l l , i n d i s c u s s i n g 
t h i s q u e s t i o n , makes a more dangerous observation? 

The essays are of l i t t l e help. There Stevens sometimes 
p r e f e r s the image without meaning; yet he p r a i s e s the 
s i g n i f i c a n t images of Bunyan and La Fontaine. Some-
times he c a l l s emblem or a s i g n a symbol. . . . I t i s a 
f a c t that hox\rever much he loved analogy, he hated the 
Hermetic transcendentalism on which the symbolists 
based t h e i r a n a l o g i e s . Of no more h e l p , h i s poems 
abound i n a l l e g o r i c a l signs with d e f i n i t e meanings, 
i n a l l e g o r i c a l p e r s o n i f i c a t i o n s , and i n unassigned 
symbols. His r e c u r r e n t blue and green, north and 
south, moon and sun are signs f o r the imagination and 
f a c t , not symbols. Many of h i s creatures (woman, 
g i a n t , and ephebe) are a l l e g o r i c a l . Yet many, "not 
too e x a c t l y l a b e l l e d , " are symbols. ... The question 
i s u n p r o f i t a b l e . i l 

T i n d a l l ' s a s s e r t i o n about Stevens' hatred of "hermetic 
transcendentalism" i s only an a s s e r t i o n ; he nowhere provides 
evidence of i t s f a c t u a l i t y . But the r e a l danger i n T i n d a l l ' s 
d i s m i s s a l of the question of symbolism i s t h a t , i n so doing, he 

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117 

p a r t i c i p a t e s i n the massive d e f o l i a t i o n of Stevens 1 images 
i n i t i a t e d by c r i t i c s who, i n t h e i r eagerness to " a s s i g n " symbols, 
have t r e a t e d those symbols as though they were merely signs or 
emblems. Hartsock's essay on Stevens i s a case i n p o i n t : 

A l l have c l a s s i f i e d c e r t a i n basic symbols used by 
Stevens. The purpose of t h i s paper i s to extend 
t h e i r study 

Giants and mountains, throughout the 
poems are used to symbolize both the poet and the 
largeness of the poet's v i s i o n . . . . 1 2 

I n c r e d i b l y enough, Hartsock's opening statement i s j u s t i f i e d ; 
almost a l l of Stevens' c r i t i c s have taken part i n the c l a s s i -
f i c a t i o n of "symbols" according to what they " s i g n i f y " as idea. 
Even the word " w e i s h e i t " (CP 492) has been seen as a symbol f o r 
wisdom. 13 C o l o r s , c h a r a c t e r s , f l o r a and fauna, the elements of 
e a r t h and the bodies of heaven, have repeatedly been assigned 
t h e i r s i g n i f i c a t i o n s . 

The f a c t that the r e s u l t a n t s i g n i f i c a t i o n s are seldom i n 
accord w i t h each other, or with the poems i n which, supposedly, 
they are at work, proves something about the nature of Stevens' 
images. T i n d a l l ' s equation of moon and sun as signs f o r the 
imagination and f a c t r e s p e c t i v e l y serves as i l l u s t r a t i o n . 
Hartsock repeats the i d e n t i f i c a t i o n , ! ^ but O'Connor makes sun 
symbolic of " l i f e f o r c e , p h y s i c a l e x i s t e n c e ; the u n t h i n k i n g 
source. Pack sees the sun-as Stevens' " c e n t r a l symbol f o r 
r e a l i t y , l 6 and B a i r d sees i t as myth; 17 Watts wants the moon to 
represent "man's i n a b i l i t y to see c l e a r l y . " l ^ Obviously Stevens' 
images, whether signs or symbols, a f f e c t d i f f e r e n t c r i t i c s i n 
d i f f e r e n t ways. In s h o r t , they o s c i l l a t e through a range of 
suggestiveness, and are t h e r e f o r e , symbols i n Mallarme's sense: 

To name an object i s l a r g e l y to destroy p o e t i c 



118 
enjoyment, which comes from gradual d i v i n a t i o n . The 
i d e a l i s t o suggest the object. I t i s the p e r f e c t 
use of t h i s mystery which c o n s t i t u t e s symbol. An 
object must be g r a d u a l l y evoked': i n order to. show, a 
s t a t e of s o u l ; or e l s e , choose an object and from i t 
e l i c i t a s t a t e of soul by means of a s e r i e s of 
decodlngs.19 

The major f a l l a c y of g e n e r a l i z e d i d e n t i f i c a t i o n s between 
image and idea i s the theory that leads to them. The theory i s 
t h a t i f images can be given a meaning i t w i l l be p o s s i b l e to 
a r r i v e at a secure understanding of the poems i n which the 
images occur. This i s a f a l l a c y of the r a t i o n a l mind; i t i n -
volves the assumption that ideas are more meaningful, more com-
municable, than images. But the s e c u r i t y gained by reading 
"imagination" f o r moon i s i l l u s i v e ; the c r i t i c s t i l l has to 
d i s c o v e r what Stevens means by imagination i n the context of 
the poem. C r i t i c s who make such i d e n t i f i c a t i o n s reverse the 
process of poetry to no good purpose; they make of i t the same 
impoverished t h i n g as "the common l i f e " ! 

The paper i s whiter 
The men have no shadows 
And the women have only one s i d e . (CP 221) 

Not a l l c r i t i c s , however, have rushed i n where the necessary 
angel refuses to t r e a d . Among the a b s t a i n e r s i s Doggett, whose 
c r i t i c a l approach to Stevens' poems i s based on the e x p l i c i t 
r e j e c t i o n , not only of the p r a c t i c e of reducing Stevens' images 
i n t o ideas, but a l s o of t r e a t i n g Stevens' ideas as i d e a s ; 

The l a t e manner does resemble t h a t of p h i l o s o p h i c a l 
statement; we can almost expect l o g i c a l forms; we look 
f o r a c o n s i s t e n t o r g a n i z a t i o n of thought; i t seems 
that a paraphrase i s almost p o s s i b l e , that we can s t a t e 
a c e r t a i n meaning f o r a c e r t a i n poem, an e f f o r t that 
misses most of i t s purpose, l i k e t e l l i n g dreams or 
d e s c r i b i n g music...One can answer some attempts to 
d i s t i l l a system of ideas from h i s poetry by another 
and divergent d i s t i l l a t i o n . His ideas are not 



119 
systematic but thematic... What seems a development 
of d o c t r i n e i s a v e r s i o n of experience.20 

What Doggett means when he speaks of thematic ideas i s p r e c i s e l y 
what Mallarme' means by symbols and I mean by e x i s t e n t images 
and r e l a t i o n a l symbols. Words or groups of words which de-
s c r i b e ideas (essence i s a simple example) are images of the 
ideas they designate, and because they are words they can be 
transformed by r e l a t i o n - they can transcend d e s i g n a t i o n by 
becoming form. In so doing, they l o s e t h e i r r e s t r i c t e d f u n c t i o n 
as signs f o r conception - as - idea and become symbols of what 
Coleridge c a l l e d " I n t u i t i v e i d e a " : 

This i s the t e s t and character of a t r u t h so a f f i r m e d 
...that i n i t s own proper form i t i s i n c o n c e i v a b l e . 
For to conceive i s a f u n c t i o n of the understanding, 
which can only be e x e r c i s e d on subjects subordinate 
t h e r e t o . And yet to the forms of the understanding 
a l l t r u t h s must be reduced, that i s to be f i x e d as an 
object of r e f l e c t i o n , and to be rendered e x p r e s s i b l e . 
And here we have the second t e s t and s i g n of a t r u t h 
so a f f i r m e d , that i t can come f o r t h out of the moulds 
of the understanding only i n the d i s g u i s e or two 
c o n t r a d i c t o r y conceptions, each of which i s p a r t i a l l y 
t r u e , and the conjunction of both conceptions becomes 
the r e p r e s e n t a t i v e or expression (-the exponent) of a 
t r u t h beyond conception and i n e x p r e s s i b l e . ^ l 

The expression of the i n e x p r e s s i b l e i s symbol, and t h i s , accord-
ing to C o l e r i d g e , i s at l e a s t a t h r e e - f o l d f u s i o n : 

An IDEA t h e r e f o r e contemplates the Alpha and the Omega 
(One-All; F i n i t e - I n f i n i t e ; Subject-Object; Mind -
Matter; Substance - Form; Time - Space; Motion - Rest; 
F u t u r a t l o n - Presence...and i t i s i n d i f f e r e n t which of 
the p a i r s you take, f o r they are a l l Symbols of the 
same Truth produced by d i f f e r e n t P o s i t i o n s ) as One....' 

The analogy between Coleridge's concept of symbol and Stevens' 
concept of "the t o t a l double-thing" and the r e l a t i o n between 
symbol and "the only l o v e " i s obvious. 

Despite T i n d a l l , t h e r e f o r e , the question of Stevens' 



120 

symbolism i s not only p r o f i t a b l e , i t i s the only p e r t i n e n t 
q u e s t i o n that can be discussed. Benamou, i n an essay which has 
j u s t been p u b l i s h e d , i n d i c a t e s the necessary nature of the 
d i s c u s s i o n ; ?A Sears and Roebuck l i s t of Stevens* symbols would 
j u s t catalogue h i s f a v o r i t e garments....But basic movements of 
the mind r e v e a l more than i t s i n v e n t o r y . " 2 3 

The i n i t i a l movement of Stevens' mind as i t handles i t s 
images has a m u l t i p l e name because i t i s a complex movement. 
B a s i c a l l y , i t i s the c h a r a c t e r i s t i c movement of the v i a negativa 
i n that i t seeks to deny the adequacy of the content of the 
image. But the movement has two phases - d e c r e a t i o n and ab-
s t r a c t i o n - and i t i s these phases I want to d i s c u s s , together 
w i t h t h e i r attendent arguments and images. 

Stevens mentions d e c r e a t i o n only once - i n "The R e l a t i o n s 
Between Poetry and P a i n t i n g " ; 

Simone Weil i n La Pesanteur et La Grace has a chapter 
on what she c a l l s d e c r e a t i o n . She says that d e c r e a t i o n 
i s making pass from the created to the uncreated, but 
that d e s t r u c t i o n i s making pass from the created to 
nothingness. Modern r e a l i t y i s a r e a l i t y of d e c r e a t i o n , 
i n which our r e v e l a t i o n s are not the r e v e l a t i o n s of 
b e l i e f , but the precious portents of our own powers. 
The g r e a t e s t t r u t h we could hope to d i s c o v e r . . . . i s 
that man's t r u t h i s the f i n a l r e s o l u t i o n of every-
t h i n g . (NA 174-75) 

That s i n g l e r e f e r e n c e , however, i s becoming i n c r e a s i n g l y more 
important to Stevens' c r i t i c s . Benamou, f o r example, sees i t 

as the b a s i s f o r an e s s e n t i a l d i s t i n c t i o n between Stevens and 

Mallarmet 
A symbol d u p l i c a t e s a " f a c t " i n the mind; a b s t r a c t , 
i t i s "pure". An imagination such as Mallarme/*s 
w i l l not create a paradise of calm sensual presences, 
b e a u t i f u l shapes and c o l o r s ; i t w i l l decreate appear-
ances, b r i n g death to f o r e s t a l l death, thus master 



121 

death, and save from decay a "pure" world i n the mind 
....For Mallarme's paradise of perception i s a mental 
i s l a n d outside nature. A c l e a r outline separates i t 
from earthly gardens. Purity means schism. Divorce, 
not marriage, i s the law of the poet's hygenic v i s i o n . 

To Stevens, on the contrary, transparence brought 
p a r t i c i p a t i o n . ...The main notion conveyed, 16 times 
out of 19 occurences, by his use of the word "pure" 
i s a cleansing of the verbal medium. Reality i_s pure. 
The Adamic t r a d i t i o n does not accept the sense of a 
F a l l . Then purity r e s u l t s from clearing sight of i t s 
"man-locked set" of r e l i g i o u s ideas and mythological 
metaphors.24 

I w i l l return to Benamou, but, for the moment, the variant 

c r i t i c a l views of decreation are more pressing. In the same 

•Wallace Stevens Issue' of ELH that Benamou's a r t i c l e appears 

i n , there i s another by J . H i l l i s M i l l e r i n which decreation 

has a d i f f e r e n t faces 

No sooner has the mind created a new f i c t i v e world 
than t h i s "recent imagining of r e a l i t y " becomes 
obsolete i n i t s turn, and must be rejected. This 
r e j e c t i o n i s the act of decreation, and returns man 
once more to unadorned r e a l i t y . The cycle then begins 
again: imagining followed by decreation followed by 
imagining and so on f o r as long as l i f e l a s t s . In 
t h i s rhythmic a l t e r n a t i o n l i e s our only hope to possess 
r e a l i t y . 2 5 

M i l l e r ' s elucidation of what he c a l l s "the poetry of being" has 

several curious analogies to what has been said e a r l i e r in t h i s 

paper. He, too, employs the concept of o s c i l l a t i o n to open the 

impasse of the inadequate images 

It seems that the poet w i l l make s t e r i l e vibrations 
back and f o r t h between one s p i r i t u a l season and the 
other, always a l i t t l e behind the perpetual flowing 
of r e a l i t y . 

There i s one way to escape...and the discovery 
of t h i s way gives i t s special character to a l l Stevens' 
l a t e r poetry. He can move so fast from one season to 
another that a l l the extreme postures of the s p i r i t 
are present i n a single moment. If he can do t h i s he 
w i l l never pause long enough at any extreme for i t to 
freeze into a dead f i x i t y , and he w i l l appease at 
l a s t his longing to have both imagination and r e a l i t y 
at once. An o s c i l l a t i o n rapid enough becomes a blur 
i n which opposites are touched simultaneously....26" 



122 
But i f the way to the end i s analogous, M i l l e r ' s ending only 
serves to p o i n t up the need f o r a . f u l l e r understanding of 
symbolic formation and the f u n c t i o n of d e c r e a t i o n w i t h i n that 
formations 

In the l a t e r poetry nothingness appears to be the 
source and end of e v e r y t h i n g , and to u n d e r l i e every-
t h i n g as i t s present r e a l i t y . Imagination i s nothing. 
R e a l i t y i s nothing. The mind i s nothing. Words are 
nothing. God i s nothing. Perhaps i t i s the f a c t 
that a l l these t h i n g s are equivalent to nothing which 
makes them a l l equivalents of each other.. 

I t seemed 
that Stevens was moving c l o s e r to the p l e n i t u d e of 
t h i n g s , but as the t e n s i o n between imagination and 
r e a l i t y diminishes there i s an unperceived emptying 
out of both, u n t i l , at the moment they touch....the 
poet f i n d s himself face to face w i t h a u n i v e r s a l 
nothing. 

Nevertheless, t h i s apparent defeat i s the supreme 
v i c t o r y , f o r the nothing i s not nothing. I t i s being. 
Being i s the u n i v e r s a l power, v i s i b l e nowhere i n i t -
s e l f , and yet v i s i b l e everywhere i n a l l things.27 

This sounds m y s t i c a l i n the Mallarmean manner. Being i s absolute. 
Being i s a l s o nothingness, but there are s e v e r a l kinds of noth-
ingness. Wagner demonstrated that when he compared the idea of 
nothingness i n Stevens' poems to Valery's comment, "...perfected 
consciousness d i f f e r s as l i t t l e as could be wished from noth-
ingness. "28 He found that the idea has v a r i a b l e aspects: 

(1) Blank s p i r i t i s open to a l l p o s s i b l e o b j e c t s , 
being c h a r a c t e r i z e d by nothing but l i g h t . 
(2) A perfected s p i r i t approaches to nothing; the 

. Impossible l i m i t of u l t i m a t e contemplation or absolute 
peace i s nothingness. 
(3) The s e l f regards i t s e l f as nothing during the 
supreme moment of otherness; l i f e i s turned i n t o the 
pure act of awareness. 
(4) U t t e r d i s i l l u s i o n m e n t reduces a l l t r a d i t i o n a l and 
conventional m o r a l i t i e s to nothing; a c o n d i t i o n of 
"poverty" - poverty of r e l i g i o u s b e l i e f s i s accepted 
as the new m o r a l i t y . 
(5) The objects of s p i r i t or imagination are Im-
m a t e r i a l , a i r y nothings having p o s i t i v e being but not 
e x i s t e n c e ; they are essences, nothing that need e x i s t , 
yet everything that i s p o s s i b l e . 



123 
(6) L i f e and r e a l i t y are sacraments f o r the s p i r i t ; 
both are at once everything and n o t h i n g . 2 9 

The d i f f e r e n c e between the f i n a l two aspects of nothingness 
i s the d i f f e r e n c e between marginal and c e n t r a l poetry, between 
v o i d and plenum-void, between d e s t r u c t i o n and d e c r e a t i o n , between 
M i l l e r ' s concept of the o s c i l l a t i o n s of poetry as an emptying-
out and Benamou's concept of " p a r t i c i p a t i o n . " 

To see how d e c r e a t i o n manifests i t s e l f i n technique, how-
ever, i t i s mandatory that a r e j e c t i o n be made of Benamou's 
a s s o c i a t i o n of Stevens and the Adamic t r a d i t i o n and h i s r e l a t e d 
c l a i m "Since a l l we want i s a new sense of t h i n g s , renewing the 
words w i l l do. The Impressionist impulse goes toward the t r a n s -
parence of the medium, and eschews the issue of absolutes."30 
Stevens i s not "a l a t t e r - d a y Adam,"31 d e s p i t e the number of 
c r i t i c s who have c a l l e d him so.3 2 Adam, as Pearce r i g h t l y sug-
gests i s l e d i n e v i t a b l y t o usurp the Thrones 

Wanting to be Adam, the American poet...has f i n a l l y 
d i s c o v e r e d , i s not the same as wanting to be a poet, 
or a man, any man of the imagination. I t i s wanting 
to be a god - a god i n a world without gods, to be 
sure, but a god nonetheless.33 

Pearce's Adam ends i n inescapable d i s o r d e r and the emptiness 
of exhaustions 

Demanding that poetry t r a n s v a l u a t e i t s e l f by exhaust-
ing i t s e l f (which was i t s mode of being i t s e l f ) ; that 
I t become an instrument which i n a l l i t s d e c r e a t i v e 
power, could blazon f o r t h the pure power of c r e a t i v i t y 
- Stevens perhaps demanded too much f o r lt.34 

The point i s w e l l - t a k e n because i t r e v e a l s an unresolved 
problem i n Benamou's approach - a problem Benamou a s c r i b e s to 
Stevens (the u n d e r l i n i n g i s mine)s 

The metaphors of concealment and divestment help us 



124 

to understand Stevens' d i f f i c u l t y : that center which 
he seeks i s both r e a l i t y and a s e l f . I t tends to 
naked r e a l i t y through a c e n t r i p e t a l movement. For  
t h i n g s r e v e a l t h e i r essence as,a sum of p r o f i l e s . 7 5 

The problem i s g r a p h i c a l l y i l l u s t r a t e d by the poem "Study 
of Two Pears" (CP 196). Pack has pointed out that the poem 
"begins w i t h the assumption that the pears can be a b s o l u t e l y 
d e f i n e d , drawn to the f a c t of what they are and ends i n the 
knowledge that the pears can never be known i n i s o l a t i o n . But 
the poem i s more involved than the bare statement of the con-
t r a d i c t i o n suggests. There are two pears i n the poem because 
the "Opusculum paedagogum" i s more than an i l l u s t r a t i o n of the 
f l u i d l i m i t s of o b j e c t s . The "viols,/Nudes or b o t t l e s " of the 
f i r s t stanza are dead forms - what Stevens terms i n "Add This 
to R h e t o r i c , " "evading metaphor" (CP 199). But each pear can 
be observed and described only as an endless s e r i e s of chang-
i n g r e l a t i o n s both w i t h i n and without i t s shape, and the only 
t h i n g which makes the pears pears i s that they resemble each 
other. 

Such a statement sounds t r i t e , but i t does have conse-
quences. I t proves, among other t h i n g s , that S i s t e r Quinn 
s l i p p e d when she made of the poem an example of " v i c t o r y going 
to the r e a l over the f i c t i v e . " 3 ? Rather, i t i l l u s t r a t e s the 
r e a l i t y of what she terms "the f l u d i t y of essence": 

One c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of the world of Wallace Stevens 
i s the f l u i d i t y of essence. Besides the union of 
opposites i n Nature, there i s a l s o a mysterious 
transference of essences. Now that the concept of 
essence i s no longer taken f o r granted - at l e a s t 
i n s e v e r a l schools of modern philosophy - t h i s 
i n t e r f e r e n c e w i t h q u i d d i t y r e q u i r e s l e s s suspension 
of d i s b e l i e f than i t would have i n e a r l i e r p e r i o d s . 
One instance of such mutation occurs i n the middle 



125 

s e c t i o n of "Notes Toward a Supreme F i c t i o n " ; the 
water of the l a k e , says the poet was "Like a momen-
t a r y c o l o r , i n which swans/Were seraphs, were s a i n t s , 
were changing essences." 3 8 

"Study of Two Pears" demonstrates that the essence of 

pear can never be known i n the object but only as a resemblance 

between the r e l a t i o n s that compose two o b j e c t s . The. i r o n y of 
the n a r r a t o r ' s unconscious preconception that the pears are 
i d e n t i c a l i s f u l l y brought out i n the f o u r t h stanza: 

In the way they are modelled 
There are b i t s of blue. 
A hard dry l e a f hangs 
From the stem. (CP 196) 

Pears hang i n d i v i d u a l l y , l i k e apples; i s there one l e a f or two? 
Does "modelled" imply that the pears are n a t u r a l or a r t i f i c i a l 
- modelled by the hands or modelled a f t e r a p a t t e r n of excellence 
f o r pears? The n a r r a t o r can only avoid the problem; he has f a l -
l e n i n t o the s i n of r e a l i s m pointed out by Camus: 

The r e a l i s t a r t i s t and the f o r m a l i s t a r t i s t t r y to 
f i n d u n i t y where i t does not e x i s t , i n r e a l i t y i n i t s 
crudest s t a t e , or i n imaginative c r e a t i o n which wants 
to a b o l i s h a l l r e a l i t y . 3 9 

This i s the problem: i t would appear that there i s no "sum of 
p r o f i l e s " other than an impossible t o t a l i t y which w i l l r e v e a l 
the essence of t h i n g s . 

The Adamic s o l u t i o n o f f e r e d by Benamou j u s t w i l l not wash: 
The " t r a n s f i x i n g o b j e c t " i s a r e s i d u e , at a "center 
of resemblance," l i k e the pineapple "reduced" from 
the "sum of i t s c o m p l i c a t i o n s " ; i t i s an image of 
convergence to a center. Cur i m p e r f e c t i o n s , as 
Stevens c a l l s our successive views of r e a l i t y . . . form 
a c i r c l e of shapes, c o l o r s , metaphors. Keeping t h i s 
world on the move w i l l guarantee the f i x i t y of i t s 
c e n t e r : " I t Must Change," so that the perceptive s e l f 
may be evolved. The pure object r e v e a l s the pure 
s e l f , or should; the naked t h i n g m i r r o r s the naked 
man or should. Such are the a b s t r a c t terms of the 
exchange. Stevens' poetry produces poems....out of 



126 
a f a i t h ; the f a i t h that the imagination can or should 
t r y to apprehend r e a l i t y , and i n so doing, apprehends 
i t s e l f . This view, o f f e r e d as c o n c l u s i o n , can serve 
to d i s t i n g u i s h on one side the d u a l i s t i c imagination 
of Mallarme and V a l e r y , i s s u i n g i n the same h y p e r b o l i c 
doubt of r e a l i t y as Descartes' Cogito, and on the 
other side the Romantic imagination culminating i n 
Husserl's Cogitos 

The f l u x of l i v i n g , my f l u x , as t h i n k i n g s u b j e c t , 
can be l a r g e l y unapprehended, unknown to any 
extent of i t s past or f u t u r e , i t i s enough to 
look at l i f e i n f l u x and a c t u a l l y present, f o r 
me to say, without any r e s t r i c t i o n and of neces-
s i t y , I am, t h i s l i f e i s , I l i v e : cogito.40 

In making the statement "Stevens' a s c e t i c look resembles 
the phenomenologist's epoche much more than i t does the 
Symbolist's askesis,"41 Benamou u n w i t t i n g l y r e t u r n s to the 
i s s u e of a b s o l u t e s . The whole point of Sartre's argument with 
H u s s e r l i n The Transcendence of the Ego i s that the " I " of the 
phenomenological c o g i t o i s unnecessary - an " o p a c i t y " - and that 
r e d u c t i o n can only be p o s i t e d as an escape from "absolute con-
sciousness" : 

Perhaps, i n r e a l i t y , the e s s e n t i a l f u n c t i o n of the 
ego i s not so much t h e o r e t i c a l as p r a c t i c a l . We have 
n o t i c e d , indeed, that i t does not bind up the u n i t y 
of phenomema; that i t i s l i m i t e d to r e f l e c t i n g an 
i d e a l u n i t y , whereas the r e a l and concrete u n i t y has 
long been e f f e c t e d . But perhaps the e s s e n t i a l r o l e 
of the ego i s to mask from consciousness i t s very 
spontane i t y . 4 2 

S a r t r e ' s concept of the f u n c t i o n and l i m i t of the ego i s much 
c l o s e r to the egos d r a m a t i c a l l y presented by Stevens i n h i s 
poems. When consciousness becomes aware of i t s e l f as subject 
i t i s absolute; when man's consciousness becomes aware of i t s e l f 
( " r e f l e c t s " ) , i t can only be as an object ("mask") - a f a c t 
a f f i r m e d by Coleridge long ago: 

Here then we have, by a n t i c i p a t i o n , the d i s t i n c t i o n 
between the c o n d i t i o n a l f i n i t e I (which, as known i n 
d i s t i n c t consciousness by occasion of experience, i s 



127 
c a l l e d by Kant's f o l l o w e r s the e m p i r i c a l I) and the 
absolute I AM, and l i k e w i s e the dependence or r a t h e r 
the inherence of the former i n the l a t t e r ; i n whom 
"we l i v e , and move, and have our being," as Saint 
Paul d i v i n e l y a s s e r t s . . . . ^ 3 

Perhaps t h i s concept e x p l a i n s why Joyce's Stephen Dedalus 
should make "the dramatic form" the highest p o s s i b l e form: 

The p e r s o n a l i t y of the a r t i s t , at f i r s t a c r y or a 
cadence or a mood and then a lambent n a r r a t i v e , ; , 
f i n a l l y r e f i n e s i t s e l f out of e x i s t e n c e , impersonalizes 
i t s e l f , so to speak. The e s t h e t i c image i n dramatic 
form i s l i f e p u r i f i e d i n and r e - p r o j e c t e d from the 
human imagination. The mystery of e s t h e t i c , l i k e that 
of m a t e r i a l c r e a t i o n i s accomplished. The a r t i s t , 
l i k e the God of c r e a t i o n , remains w i t h i n or behind or 
beyond or above h i s handiwork, i n v i s i b l e , r e f i n e d put 
of e x i s t e n c e , i n d i f f e r e n t , paring h i s f i n g e r n a i l s . 4 4 

The l o g i c of t h e i r p o s i t i o n should, t h e r e f o r e , b r i n g the c r i t i c s 
of an Adamic Stevens back to the absolute and hence to a concept 
of symbolism. That i t does not i s i n e x p l i c a b l e . Pearce, f o r 
example, would object to a paper by B a i r d on Stevens* " e x i s t e n -
t i a l i s m " ^ on the grounds that "he wants to save Stevens f o r 
some form of theism."46 g u t Pearce misses completely the i r o n i c 
c o n t r a d i c t i o n i n h i s own view; "the Supreme F i c t i o n , the im-
p o s s i b l e p o s s i b l e man, the u l t i m a t e poem - these a r e , i n the 
work of Stevens' l a s t phase, the grand p o s t u l a t e s of the ego. 
(Stevens once remarked: "God i s a p o s t u l a t e of the ego.") 
P o s t u l a t i n g these, the ego guarantees i t s own c o n t i n u i n g ex-
i s t e n c e ...."47 I t i s not that the ego p o s t u l a t e s the existence 
Of God, thereby making God a dependent c r e a t i o n of the ego; i t 
i s that God i s a necessary p o s t u l a t e of the ego-- the'grounds 
of i t s e x i s t e n c e . 

The i r o n y i s f u l l y brought out i n Stevens' two e x p l i c i t 
treatments of Adam i n h i s poetry. In "The Pure Good of Theory," 



128 

the f i g u r e of Adam i s opposed to "A Large-sculptured, p l a t o n i c 
person, f r e e from time..." (CP 330)' The impetus of the poem 
i s the d e s i r e f o r " f e l i c i t y " : 

F e l i c i t y , ah I Time i s the hooded enemy, 
The i n i m i c a l music, the enchantered space 
In which the enchanted preludes have t h e i r place. (CP 3 30) 

Adam and the p l a t o n i s t are not the same f i g u r e i n the poem. I t 
was Adam who, by usurping absolute c r e a t i v i t y , created time: 

We knew one parent must have been d i v i n e , 
Adam of beau regard, from f a t E l y s i a , 
Whose mind malformed t h i s morning metaphor, 
While a l l the leaves leaked g o l d . His mind made 

morning, 
As he s l e p t . He woke i n a metaphor: t h i s was 
A metamorphosis of paradise, 
Malformed, the world was paradise malformed... (CP 331-32) 

Adam was the enchanterer and h i s c r e a t i o n i s what the P l a t o n i s t 
must decreate by c r e a t i n g "enchanted preludes" w i t h i n time. 
Adamic time i s d e s t r u c t i o n : 

I t i s time that beats i n the breast and i t i s time 
That b a t t e r s a g a i n s t the mind, s i l e n t and proud, 
The mind that knows i t i s destroyed by time. 
Time i s a horse that runs i n the h e a r t , a horse 
Without a r i d e r on a road at n i g h t . (CP 330) 

The key to the nature of the p l a t o n i c person i s contained i n 
t h i s d e s c r i p t i o n of the 'proud mind'; the parody, i n the l i n e 
"Whose mind malformed t h i s morning metaphor," of Hopkin's l i n e 
" I caught t h i s morning morning's minion..." ("The Windhover") 
i s i n d i c a t i v e of Adam's p r i d e . In d i s c o v e r i n g only ego i n the 
world (the k i n d of i d e n t i t y between s e l f and other p o s i t e d by 
Benamou), he has created a "metaphor" which w i l l be destroyed. 
The world of Adam i s trapped i n the i d e n t i t y of ego and other; 
i t i s the world discovered by the v i r i l e poet - "...a world that 



129 

does not move f o r the weight of i t s own heaviness." (NA 63) 
The p l a t o n i s t , on the other hand, i s not l e d through p r i d e 

t o a f f i r m that metaphor i s I d e n t i t y . In my view, the e l l i p s i s 
a f t e r "malformed" i s the equivalent of Hopkins' "Brute beauty 
and v a l o r and a c t , oh, a i r , p r i d e , plume/here/Buckle!" I t 
i n d i c a t e s the end of Adam and the i n i t i a t i o n of the prelude of 
the p l a t o n i s t . I t i s the p l a t o n i s t ' s ear that 

attends the v a r y i n g 
Of t h i s precarious music, the change of key 
Not q u i t e detected at the moment of change 
And, now, i t attends the d i f f i c u l t d i f f e r e n c e . 
To say the s o l a r c h a r i o t i s junk 
Is not a v a r i a t i o n but an end. 
Yet to speak of the whole world as metaphor 
Is s t i l l to s t i c k to the contents of the mind 
And the d e s i r e to b e l i e v e i n a metaphor. 
I t i s to s t i c k to the n i c e r knowledge of 
B e l i e f , that what i t b e l i e v e s i n i s not t r u e . (CP 332) 

In t h i s reading, the poem springs to l i f e . The " s o l a r c h a r i o t " 
i s Adam's, of course, or more s p e c i f i c a l l y , i t i s h i s c l a i m to 
d i v i n i t y . The p l a t o n i s t , by d i s c o v e r i n g the d i f f e r e n c e between 
the paradise of Adam and 'the r e a l p a r a d i s e ' discovers "...a 
s o u l i n the world" (CP 3 3 1 ). He d i s c o v e r s the t r u t h that 
metaphor i s resemblance: 

I t i s never the t h i n g but the v e r s i o n of the t h i n g : 
The fragrance of the woman not her s e l f , 
Her s e l f i n her manner not the s o l i d b l o c k , 
The day i n i t s c o l o r not perpending time, 
Time i n i t s weather, our most sovereign l o r d , 
The weather i n words and words i n sounds of sound. (CP332) 

"The Pure Good of Theory" i s the P l a t o n i c Good that the theory 
of metaphor as resemblance leads t o , and one uses that theory 
t o decreate, which as Benamou suggested i s to c l e a r the world 



130 

of i t s "man-locked s e t " (CP 497). But such a process i n v o l v e s 
more than " r e l i g i o u s ideas and m y t h o l o g i c a l metaphors":48 the 
"necessary angel of e a r t h " (CP 496) who speaks the words i s 
h i m s e l f only one of the p l a t o n i c preludes: "Am I not,/Myself, 
only h a l f a f i g u r e of a s o r t . . . " (CP 497). Despite the macabre 
nature of the d e c r e a t i v e transformations imposed upon him by 
the "enchantering" of Adam, the preludes of the p l a t o n i s t have 
t h e i r i d e a l end: 

These devastations are the d i v e r t i s s e m e n t s 
Of a d e s t r o y i n g s p i r i t u a l that digs-a-dog, 
Whines i n i t s hole f o r puppies to come see, 
Springs outward, being l a r g e , and, i n the dust, 
Being s m a l l , i n s c r i b e s f e r o c i o u s alphabets, 
F l i e s l i k e a bat expanding as i t f l i e s , 
U n t i l i t s wings bear o f f n i g h t ' s middle w i t c h ; 
And yet remains the same, the beast of l i g h t , 
Groaning i n h a l f - e x p l o i t e d g u t t u r a l s 
The need of i t s element, the f i n a l need 
Of f i n a l access to i t s element -
Of access l i k e the page of a wiggy book, 
Touched suddenly by the u n i v e r s a l f l a r e 
For a moment,'a moment i n which we read and r e -

peat 
The eloquence of l i g h t ' s f a c u l t i e s . (CP 3 3 2- 3 3 ) 

His d i s c o v e r y of the inadequacy of Adam and h i s images 
leads to a s e r i e s of r e b i r t h s . The source of Stevens' images 
here ( t h e i r p a r t i c u l a r j u s t i f i c a t i o n i n other words) i s not 
c l e a r to me, but the movement from night towards l i g h t a f f i r m s 
the general l i n e s of the P l a t o n i c concept of the r e b i r t h of the 
soul.49 

The f a c t that the p l a t o n i s t never reaches h i s element 
" f r e e from time" does not negate the reading. The p l a t o n i s t i s 
not "pure good"; l i k e Aquinas, he i s a symbol of the pure good. 



131 

P l a t o n i s t as poet becomes Orpheus; and the proper image f o r the 
" c e n t r a l poet" i s n e i t h e r 'ultra-omnipotent' man or omniscient 
god. He i s Orpheus, son of man and muse, l i v i n g i n a world 
f u l l of imprisoned nymphs and dryads, whose movements form the 
c o n f i g u r a t i o n s of h i s music, who plays h i s preludes 

U n t i l the used-to earth and sky, and the t r e e 
And cloud, the used-to t r e e and used-to c l o u d , 
Lose the o l d uses that they made of them, 
And theys these men, and earth and sky, inform 
Each other by sharp i n f o r m a t i o n s , sharp, 
Free knowledges, secreted u n t i l then, 
Breaches of that which held them f a s t . I t i s 
As i f the c e n t r a l poem became the world, 

And that which i n an a l t i t u d e would soar, 
A v i s , a p r i n c i p l e o r , i t may be, 
The meditation of a p r i n c i p l e , 
Or e l s e an inherent order a c t i v e to be 
I t s e l f , a nature to i t s n a t i v e s a l l 
Beneficence, a repose, utmost repose, 
The: muscles of a magnet a p t l y f e l t , 
A g i a n t , on the h o r i z o n , g l i s t e n i n g . . . ( C P 441-42) 

The " g i a n t " of "A P r i m i t i v e L i k e An Orb" i s the i d e a l , the 
absolute mirrored but not contained by the Orphic music: 

That's i t . The l o v e r w r i t e s , the b e l i e v e r hears, 
The poet mumbles and the p a i n t e r sees, 
Each one, h i s fated e c c e n t r i c i t y , 
As a p a r t , but p a r t , but tenacious p a r t i c l e , 
Of the s k e l e t o n of the ether, the t o t a l 
Of l e t t e r s , prophecies, p e r c e p t i o n s , clods 
Of c o l o r , the g i a n t of nothingness, each one 
And the g i a n t ever changing, l i v i n g i n change. (CP 443) 

Decreation, f o r the Orphic poet, i s not a process of exhaustion, 
but a process of r e l e a s e . I t i s not a d e n i a l of the absolute, 
but an acceptance of the contingency of the contingent. 
Orpheus was, above a l l , a s y m b o l i s t , even In P l u t a r c h i a n myth. 
(Aridaeus-Thespesius i s the double name of a soul r e l e a s e d from 
i t s body but not i t s image); 

The r a t i o n a l part of the Soul of Aridaeus-Thespesius, 
then, comes near t o , but may not pass, the Moon; and 



132 

can only see from a f a r the g l o r y of the true Delphi 
which i s e t e r n a l i n the Heavens - the Sun, the seat 
of A p o l l o , the home of reason. Orpheus, when he 
went to seek Eurydice, came, Aridaeus-Thespesius i s 
t o l d , only as f a r as the Oracle, of Dreams, i . e . the 
Moon.50 

Stevens' other e x p l i c i t a l l u s i o n to Adam only i n t e n s i f i e s 
the view of h i s f a l l a f f i r m e d i n "The Pure Good of Theory." 
I t occurs i n "Notes Toward a Supreme F i c t i o n " i n connection 
w i t h the n a r r a t o r ' s i n v o l v e d i n i t i a t i o n of the "ephebe" i n t o 
the mysteries of " a b s t r a c t i o n " ! 

The f i r s t idea was not our own. Adam 
In Eden was the f a t h e r of Descartes 
And Eve made a i r the m i r r o r of h e r s e l f , 
Of her sons and of her daughters. They found them-

selves 
In heaven as i n a g l a s s ; a second e a r t h ; 
And i n the earth i t s e l f they found a green -
The i n h a b i t a n t s of a very varnished green. (CP 383) 

Venturing i n t o "Notes..." has become a dangerous but i n -
escapable e x e r c i s e f o r c r i t i c s of Stevens. So much has been 
s a i d and so l i t t l e e s t a b l i s h e d that i t i s not p o s s i b l e to 
r e s o l v e i n t e r p r e t a t i o n s . Only a blanket i n d i c a t i o n of the work 
done can be made.51 One issue alone concerns the present d i s -
c u s s i o n and that i s Benamou's a s s e r t i o n about the nature of the 
" f i r s t i d e a " ! 

His " f i r s t i d e a " i s not at a l l Mallarme's P l a t o n i c 
Idge. He explained i f i n terms of p i c t o r i a l 
v i s i b i l i t y ! 

Someone here wrote me the other day and wanted 
to know what I meant.by a t h i n k e r of the f i r s t 
i d e a . I f you take the v a r n i s h and d i r t of 
generations o f f a p i c t u r e , you see i t i n i t s 

• f i r s t idea. I f you t h i n k about the world w i t h -
out i t s v a r n i s h and d i r t , you are a t h i n k e r of 
the f i r s t idea. 

The l i n g u i s t i c equivalent of such a cleaning-up (which, 
i n c i d e n t a l l y , makes man a god) takes place i n many 
poems.... 52 



133 

The temptation to prove the c o n t r a d i c t i o n inherent i n 
Benamou's approach simply by p o i n t i n g out the r e l a t i o n between 
the world of Adam and Eve and the f u n c t i o n of the t h i n k e r of 
the f i r s t idea i s strong. But the poem i t s e l f proves that the 
" f i r s t i d e a " i s something so c l o s e l y resembling the P l a t o n i c 
Idea that no d i s t i n c t i o n can be formulated. 

The "ephebe," a p p r o p r i a t e l y enough, i s about to be i n i t i -
ated i n t o h i s f u n c t i o n as c i t i z e n of the s t a t e - a s t a t e which 
soon reveals i t s i d e a l q u a l i t i e s . Two aspects of that i n i t i -
a t i o n give coherence to " I t Must Be A b s t r a c t " - the " f i r s t Idea" 
and the " t h i n k e r of the f i r s t i d e a . " In I , the l e s s o n i s that 
the ephebe must see the sun " c l e a r l y i n the idea of i t , " (not 
t h i n k i t ) and see i t as i t i s , without Phoebus: 

Phoebus i s dead, ephebe. But Phoebus was 
A name f o r something that never could be named. 
There was a p r o j e c t f o r the sun and i s . 
There i s a p r o j e c t f o r the sun. The sun 
Must bear no name, g o l d f l o u r i s h e r , but be 
In the d i f f i c u l t y of what i t i s to be. (CP 38I) 

Those who t h i n k that the phrase "The death of one god i s 
the death of a l l " equals humanitarian r e j e c t i o n of the absolute 
miss the r e a l point of the l e s s o n : 

How c l e a n the sun when seen i n i t s i d e a , 
Washed i n the remotest c l e a n l i n e s s of a heaven 
That has e x p e l l e d us and our images....(CP 38I) 

Phoebus i s dead because he was a name. One can almost p i n p o i n t 
the source of Stevens' i n s p i r a t i o n here by r e f e r r i n g to 
C o l e r i d g e ' s r e j e c t i o n of one of Gray's l i n e s - "And reddening 
Phoebus l i f t s h i s golden f i r e . " Coleridge s a i d of i t : 

But then i t i s a bad l i n e , not because the language 
i s d i s t i n c t from that of prose; but because i t conveys 
incongruous images, because i t confounds the cause 



134 
and the e f f e c t , the r e a l t h i n g with the p e r s o n i f i e d 
r e p r e s e n t a t i v e of the t h i n g . . . . That the "Phoebus" i s 
hackneyed, and a school-boy image, i s an a c c i d e n t a l 
f a u l t That i t i s part of an exploded mythology, 
i s an o b j e c t i o n more deeply grounded. Yet when the 
t o r c h of ancient l e a r n i n g was r e - k i n d l e d , so cheering 
were i t s beams, that our e l d e s t poets, cut o f f by 
C h r i s t i a n i t y from a l l a c c r e d i t e d machinery, and de-
p r i v e d of a l l acknowledged guardians and symbols... 
were n a t u r a l l y induced to adopt, as a p o e t i c language, 
those fabulous personages .... 5 3 

Phoebus i s two removes from a symbol. He p e r s o n i f i e s sun, but 
the sun i t s e l f i s the r e p r e s e n t a t i v e of the power behind i t . . . 
i t s cause. The sun the ephebe i s to perceive i s a "supreme 
f i c t i o n . " So much i s i n d i c a t e d by the f i r s t stanzaj 

Begin, ephebe, by p e r c e i v i n g the idea 
Of t h i s i n v e n t i o n , t h i s invented world, 
The i n c o n c e i v a b l e idea of the sun. (CP 380) 

The exact balance between conception, p e r c e p t i o n , and i n v e n t i o n 
i s maintained throughout Stevens' poems. Here i t q u i t e c l e a r l y 
i n d i c a t e s the mediating r o l e played by the sun between the idea 
and the p e r c e i v e r . The idea i s inconceivable and somehow serves 
as cause of the sun, although i t , i t s e l f , i s to have no con-
c e i v e d cause; 

Never suppose an i n v e n t i n g mind as source 
Of t h i s idea nor f o r that mind compose 
A voluminous master f o l d e d i n h i s f i r e . (CP 381) 

What t h i s means e x a c t l y i s that i f there i s such a mind, the 
ephebe cannot conceive of i t as " i n v e n t i n g " the idea. Anyway, 
the idea i s , d e s p i t e Stevens' l e t t e r , so a b s t r a c t as to be 
i n c o n c e i v a b l e as other than absolute. 

Unless he has read "the extremest book of the itfisest man" 
(CP 380) which Stevens mentions i n h i s d e d i c a t i o n , the ephebe 
should be awestruck by the demands made on him by h i s master; 



135 

the f o l l o w i n g s e c t i o n s i n d i c a t e the n e c e s s i t y f o r c l a r i f y i n g 
the l e s s o n . The ephebe has l e a r n e d , however, that a l l con-
ceptions (except the sun?) of the absolute idea are inadequate; 
i t i s something x^hich can only be perceived by "an ignorant 
eye." This i s the eye of Stevens' prose - "What the eye be-
holds may be the t e x t of l i f e . I t i s , n e v e r t h e l e s s , a t e x t we 
do not w r i t e . The eye does not beget i n resemblance. I t sees. 
But the mind begets i n resemblance" (NA 76). I t i s a l s o the 
eye of "Peter the voyant" i n "Questions are Remarks," whose 
s i n g l e question seems to be of the essence of d e c r e a t i o n : 

The sun aches and a i l s and then returns h a l l o o 
Upon the h o r i z o n amid a d u l t e n f a n t i l l a g e s . 
I t s f i r e f a i l s to p i e r c e the v i s i o n that beholds i t , 
F a i l s to destroy the antique acceptances, 
Except that the grandson sees i t as i t i s , 
Peter the voyant, who says "Mother, what i s t h a t " -
The object that r i s e s w i t h so much r h e t o r i c , 
But not f o r him. His question Is complete. 
I t i s the question of what he i s capable. 
I t i s the extreme, the expert aetat 2. 
He w i l l never r i d e the red horse she d e s c r i b e s . (CP 462) 

The ephebe, too, has h i s questions, and one of them emerges 
i n I I . The- master has j u s t given him the motive f o r the de-
c r e a t i v e r e t u r n to the f i r s t i d e a : 

I t i s the c e l e s t i a l ennui of apartments 
That sends us back to the f i r s t i d e a , the quick 
Of t h i s i n v e n t i o n ; and yet so poisonous 
Are the ravishments of t r u t h , so f a t a l to 
The t r u t h i t s e l f , the f i r s t idea becomes 
The hermit i n a poet's metaphors, 
Who comes and goes and comes and goes a l l day. (CP 3 8 l ) 

I t i s important that t h i s passage be understood because i t i s 
the p o i n t of b i f u r c a t i o n between two stances adopted i n face of 
the f i r s t idea. The motive i s c l e a r . "Apartments" are 



136 

s e l f - c o n t a i n e d , d i v i s i v e u n i t s - adamic names or ego i d e n t i t i e s . 
" C e l e s t i a l ennui" i s a heavenly boredom communicated as impulse 
t o the ephebes of the world. But what happens to the f i r s t 
idea i s ambiguous; "ravishments" means e i t h e r the rape of t r u t h 
or the ecstacy of i t . Probably i t means both. In h i s d e l i g h t 
a t d i s c o v e r i n g the f i r s t idea as f i r s t i d e a , i t would appear 
that the poet e f f e c t s the kind of d i v o r c e Benamou imagined f o r 
Mallarme. The poet makes the f i r s t i d e a , i n i t s absoluteness, 
u n r e l a t e d to the world - e x p l i c i t l y to h i s metaphors - when, i n 
r e a l i t y , the f i r s t idea i s the l i f e of the world - "the quick 
of t h i s i n v e n t i o n . " 

There i s danger here. The poisonous "ennui of the f i r s t 
i d e a " evokes two kinds of response. One i s contained, as 
i l l u s t r a t i o n , i n the second h a l f of I I : 

But the p r i e s t d e s i r e s . The philosopher d e s i r e s . 
And not to have i s the beginning of d e s i r e . 
To have what i s not i s i t s ancient c y c l e . (CP 382) 

The other response i s contained i n VI: 
Not to be r e a l i z e d because not to 
Be seen, not to be loved nor hated because 
Not to be r e a l i z e d . Weather by Franz Hals, 
Brushed up by brushy winds i n brushy clouds, 
Wetted by b l u e , c o l d e r f o r white. Not to 
Be spoken t o , without a r o o f , without 
F i r s t f r u i t s , without t h e ' v i r g i n a l of b i r d s , 
The dark-blown c e i n t u r e loosened, not r e l i n q u i s h e d . 
Gay i s , gay was, the gay f o r s y t h i a 
And yellow, yellow t h i n s the Northern blue. 
Without a name and nothing to be d e s i r e d , 
I f only imagined but imagined w e l l . 
My house has changed a l i t t l e i n the sun. 
The fragrance of the magnolias comes c l o s e , 
False f l i c k , f a l s e form, but falseness c l o s e to k i n . 



137 

I t must be v i s i b l e or i n v i s i b l e , 
I n v i s i b l e or v i s i b l e or boths 
A seeing and unseeing i n the eye. 
The weather and the g i a n t of the weather, 
Say the weather, the mere weather, the mere a i r ; 
An a b s t r a c t i o n blooded, as a man by thought. (CP 385) 

In VI, the f i r s t idea i s not even mentioned - with the 
exception of IX, the s i n g l e omission of the phrase from the 
p a r t s of " I t Must Be A b s t r a c t . " I t i s appropriate that i t 
should not be because VI i s the master's attempt to demonstrate 
i t r a t h e r than t a l k about i t , j u s t as IX i s h i s attempt t o 
demonstrate the t h i n k e r of the f i r s t i d e a . 

Of the elements which compose t h i s s e c t i o n , some must be 
passed over l i g h t l y . The " f o r s y t h i a " f o r example, i s part of 
the elaborate process to produce a "symbolic" green noted by 
Heringman: 

And i n the c o n c l u s i o n of the "Notes," Stevens marks 
a f u l l r e a l i z a t i o n of s y n t h e s i s , not only w i t h the 
transcendence which the poem i l l u s t r a t e s but with the 
s p e c i f i c i n t e r s e c t i o n s of h i s two realms i n the 
f i g u r e s of t h e i r c h i e f names £?]and symbols. The 
passage includes the harmonious i n t e r s e c t i o n of f i c -
t i o n and f a c t , poetry and s c i e n c e , i r r a t i o n a l and 
r a t i o n a l , i d e a l ( c r y s t a l ) and r e a l ; and the symbolic 
f u s i o n of moon and sun (or n i g h t and day) i n t w i l i g h t , 
and of blue and g o l d i n green. The realms of imagi-
n a t i o n and r e a l i t y i n t e r s e c t to produce a transcendent 
r e a l i t y which i s green. 

54 

Frans Hals i s noteworthy because h i s technique - evolved 
t o give a sense of l i f e to h i s p o r t r a i t s - had a great i n f l u e n c e 
on the i m p r e s s i o n i s t s , whose p o i n t i l l i s m l e f t , f o r example, green 
t o be "A seeing and unseeing i n the eye." On the l e v e l of analogy, 
green i s symbol of the f i r s t i d e a , " i f only imagined but imagined 
w e l l . " What one imagines i s not the f i r s t i d e a , but the images 
capable of. symbolizing that idea (opposites coupled i n the 
Coleridgean sense). In s h o r t , VI i s a demonstration of the 



138 

nature of e x i s t e n t images. 
The point of the analogy between i m p r e s s i o n i s t technique 

and p o e t i c p r a c t i c e i s worth d w e l l i n g on. Benamou once made 
a study of the r e l a t i o n : 

Thus the poetry of Wallace Stevens incorporates con-
f l i c t i n g elements from impressionism and cubism: 
naturalness and a r t i f i c i a l i t y , d e l i g h t i n appearances 
and metamorphosis of appearances. A b a f f l i n g sum of 

. r e l a t i o n s - f o r where i n these extreme ranges i s the 
i d e n t i t y of the poet's s e n s i b i l i t y ? 

The i d e n t i t y i s i n Stevens' concern w i t h change. 
Impressionism shows the passive p r i n c i p l e of change. 
...But i n cubism, "more than changes of l i g h t " are 
i n v o l v e d . Imagination i s the a c t i v e p r i n c i p l e which 
transforms and extends the object by m u l t i p l y i n g r e -
semblances . 55 

But so d i d Stevens i n "A Lot of People Bathing i n a. Stream" 
(CP 3 7 1 )i the whole poem generates the impression of a poin-
t i l l i s t p a i n t i n g too c l o s e l y seen. Stevens d e l i b e r a t e l y draws 
an analogy between the plane of s t r i c t r e a l i s m apparent i n the 
n a r r a t o r ' s d e s c r i p t i o n and the i m p r e s s i o n i s t ' s use of points 
of c o l o r to suggest the a c t u a l . The opening l i n e s , " I t was l i k e 
passing a boundary to d i v e / I n t o the s u n - f i l l e d water..." suggest 
t h a t boundary of space between p a i n t i n g and p e r c e i v e r at, which 
the apparently s o l i d and r e a l i s t i c forms d i s s o l v e i n t o a mass 
of "anonymlds": 

Ourselves i n the c l e a r e s t green - w e l l , c a l l i t green. 
We bathed i n yellow green and yellow blue 
And i n these comic c o l o r s dangled down, 
L i k e t h e i r p a r t i c u l a r c h a r a c t e r s , a d d i c t s 
To b l o t c h e s , angular anonymlds 
Gulping f o r shape among the reeds. 

The poem emphasizes the observation of r e a l i t y and the con-
sequence of that observation. The n a r r a t o r i s , l i k e " c a l i p e r " 
of "Last Looks At the L i l a c s , " r a t i o n a l i s t i c . His experience 
i n the stream i s traumatic, but though he l o s e s h i s head ("It 



139 

was l i k e passing a boundary, f l o a t i n g without a head....1') i n 
the sun of the moment, he recovers the c e r t a i n t y of h i s Adamic 
r e a l i t y and consequently of h i s s e l f ? 

How good i t was at home again at night 
To prepare f o r bed, i n the frame of the house, and 

move 
Round the rooms, which do not ever seem to 

change... 
"Gulping f o r shape among the reeds," he r a t i o n a l i z e s h i s ex-
perience by making i t "grotesque" r a t h e r than a r e l i g i o u s ex-
perience r e l a t e d , through o p p o s i t i o n , to kenosis; he r e j e c t s i t 
as an i l l u s i o n f o s t e r e d by the good o f f i c e s of the sun, which, 
a t the moment of withdrawal, becomes l u d i c r o u s - "Good f o r t u n e r 
of the grotesque, patroon,/A funny f o r e i g n e r of meek address." 
The i r o n y of h i s p o s i t i o n i s f u l l y i n d i c a t e d by the e l l i p s e s 
a f t e r "change." This i s r e d u c t i o n w i t h a-vengeance and i t s 
motive i s the f e a r of a r e a l i t y which denies Adam the comforts 
of h i s ego. 

The master of "Notes..." comes to a complementary con-
c l u s i o n . I f i t i s wrong to f e a r the experience of the absolute, 
I t i s a l s o wrong to d e s i r e to possess i t . This i s the meaning 
of the "hermit" image i n I I ; the master's l e s s o n was that the 
f i r s t idea should be a hermit i n the poet's metaphors. L i k e 
the image of the " b o d i l e s s " serpent i n "The Auroras of Autumn," 
the poet's metaphor " . . . i s form g u l p i n g a f t e r formlessness,/ 
Skin f l a s h i n g to wished-for disappearances/And the serpent body 
f l a s h i n g without the s k i n . " (CP 4 l l ) L i k e the "ravishments of 
t r u t h , " that double-serpent, too, has h i s poison: 

These l i g h t s may f i n a l l y a t t a i n a pole 
In the midmost midnight and f i n d the serpent t h e r e , 



l4o 

In another n e s t , the master of the maze 
Of body and a i r and forms and images, 
R e l e n t l e s s l y i n possession of happiness. 
This i s h i s poisons that we should d i s b e l i e v e 
Even t h a t . His meditations i n the f e r n s , 
When he moved so s l i g h t l y to make sure of sun, 
Made us no l e s s as sure. (CP 411-12) 

Despite the d i s s a t i s f a c t o r y nature of the r e s u l t s of h i s 
honest e x p l i c a t i o n of the poem, Davie has made the e s s e n t i a l 
observation about t h i s passages 

Sure of what? Of some constant p r i n c i p l e behind the 
e l u s i v e metamorphoses of the n a t u r a l world as p r o f f e r e d 
by our senses? Or of there being no such u n d e r l y i n g 
constancy to look f o r ? Elsewhere i n the poem we seem 
to l e a r n that the c h a n g e a b i l i t y of that snake, the 
world, when i t leads us to accept the second a l t e r -
n a t i v e , leads us a s t r a y - "This i s h i s poison."56 

The image of.the poisonous a s s o c i a t e d with the absolute 
occurs repeatedly i n Stevens' poems. In "St. John and the 
Back-Ache" - i n what R i d d e l terms "the mock debate...between the 
s p i r i t and the imperfect world where i t r e s i d e s "57_ i t appears 
i n a new l i g h t at the c l o s e of St. John's l i s t of e x i s t e n t 
Images of "presence"s 

My point i s that 
These i l l u s t r a t i o n s are n e i t h e r angels, no 
Nor b r i l l i a n t blows t h e r e o f , t i - r i l l - a - r o o , 
Nor a l l one's l u c k at once i n a play of s t r i n g s . 
They help us face the dumbfoundering abyss 
Between us and the o b j e c t , e x t e r n a l cause, 
The l i t t l e ignorance that i s e v e r y t h i n g , 
The p o s s i b l e nest i n the i n v i s i b l e t r e e , 
Which i n a composite season, now unknown, 
Denied, dismissed, may hold a serpent, loud 
In our captious hymns, erect and sinuous, 
Whose venom and whose wisdom w i l l be one. (CP 437) 

One sees here so many things t h a t i t becomes' d i f f i c u l t to sep-
a r a t e them. The b i b l i c a l analogy i s foremost; the serpent here 
sounds l i k e the "Brazen Serpent" of Moses, used by Jesus, i n 
John 3 s l 4 , as an i l l u s t r a t i o n of the k i n d of r e b i r t h man must 



141 

undergo. That the serpent Is " e r e c t " suggests both the legend 
of the snake's a b i l i t y to walk erect before the F a l l and the 
u p l i f t e d serpent of Moses. The a l l e g o r i c a l s i g n i f i c a n c e of 
the b i b l i c a l serpent i s mentioned by Peloubet; 

To present the serpent form, as deprived of i t s power 
to h u r t , impaled as the trophy, of a c o n q u e r o r w a s to 
a s s e r t that e v i l , p h y s i c a l and s p i r i t u a l , had been 
overcome, and thus help to strengthen the weak f a i t h . . . 
Others look upon the u p l i f t e d serpent as a symbol of 
l i f e and h e a l t h , i t having been so worshipped i n Eygpt. 
The two views have a p o i n t of contact, f o r the primary 
idea connected with the serpent i s wisdom. Wisdom, 
apart from obedience to God, degenerates to cunning 
and degrades and envenoms man's nature. Wisdom, y i e l d -
ing to d i v i n e law, i s the source of h e a l i n g and r e s t o r -
i n g i n f l u e n c e s , and the serpent form thus became a 
symbol of d e l i v e r a n c e and h e a l t h . 58 

There Is i r o n y here; the brazen serpent made by Moses became an 
object of i d o l a t r o u s worship and was destroyed. St. John's 
serpent i s somehow to escape that f a t e . The serpent i s "presence" 
but the c o u p l i n g of i t s wisdom and i t s venom i s put i n the con-
d i t i o n a l f u t u r e . In Godbole's terms, "presence" manifests i t -
s e l f as absence i n a f a l l e n world: 

Good and e v i l are d i f f e r e n t , as t h e i r names imply. 
But, i n my own humble o p i n i o n , they are both of them 
aspects of my Lord. He i s present i n the one, absent 
i n the other, and the d i f f e r e n c e between presence and 
absence i s g r e a t , as great as my feeble mind can grasp. 
Yet absence i m p l i e s presence, absence i s not non-
e x i s t e n c e , and we are therefore e n t i t l e d to repeat, 
'Come, come, come, come.'59 

The e x i s t e n t images i n d i c a t e d by St. John are j u s t i n - 
d i c a t i o n s . l i k e the woman of "The Woman i n Sunshine". 

The e f f e c t of the object i s beyond the mind's 
Extremest pinch and, e a s i l y , as i n 
A sudden c o l o r of the sea. But i t i s not 
That big-bushed green. Or i n a t r a g i c mode, 
As at the moment of the year when, t i c k , 
Autumn howls upon half-naked summer. But 
I t i s not the u n r a v e l l i n g of her yellow s h i f t . 
Presence i s not the woman, come upon, 



142 

Not yet accustomed, y e t , at s i g h t , humane 
To most i n c r e d i b l e depths. (CP 436-37) 

Now Stevens i s using e x i s t e n t images e s t a b l i s h e d i n e a r l i e r 
poems - a tendency e a r l i e r noted - to meditate the problem of 
"the only l o v e . " The image of the woman here, f o r example, i s 
one e s t a b l i s h e d i n "The Beginning" (CP 427) - "the s e l f of 
summer p e r f e c t l y perceived ." This c u l m i n a t i n g r e p e t i t i o n of 
images i s , i n i t s e l f , one of the major and most e x c i t i n g move-
ments of h i s mind, a movement which w i l l s h o r t l y be of concern. 
But the p o i n t now i s to a f f i r m that the nature, e f f e c t , and 
i d e a l end of these images are here d e l i n e a t e d by St. John. The 
b a s i s of h i s argument i s that "The world i s presence and not 
force./Presence i s not mind." (CP 436). "The Back-Ache" would 
d i s m i s s presence as "Kinder-Scenen" - the "adult e n f a n t i l l a g e s " 
of "Questions Are Remarks" - because he mistakes the image f o r 
the l i f e of the image. John's r e f u t a t i o n i s the same as "The 
t h e s i s of the p l e n t i f u l l e s t John" i n " D e s c r i p t i o n Without P l a c e " : 

D e s c r i p t i o n i s r e v e l a t i o n . I t i s not 
The t h i n g d e s c r i b e d , nor f a l s e f a c s i m i l e . 
I t i s an a r t i f i c i a l t h i n g that e x i s t s , 
In i t s own seeming, p l a i n l y v i s i b l e , 
Yet not too c l o s e l y the double of our l i v e s , 
Intenser than any a c t u a l l i f e could be, 
A t e x t we should be born that we might read... 

Thus the theory of d e s c r i p t i o n matters most.-
I t i s the theory of the word f o r those 
For whom the word i s the making of the world, 
The buzzing world and l i s p i n g firmament. 
I t i s a world of words to the end of i t , 
In which nothing s o l i d i s i t s s o l i d s e l f . (CP 344-45) 

The b i b l i c a l connotations of the l i n e "For whom the word i s 



1^3 

the making of the world" f i n d s i t correspondence i n John Is I 
and the r e l a t i o n of " r e v e l a t i o n " i s obvious. D e s c r i p t i o n i s 
used to mean the act of human c r e a t i o n a f t e r the man-made so-
l i d i t y of the " s o l i d s e l f " of the world has been decreated. I t 
then becomes, l i t e r a l l y , a d e s c r i p t i o n of c r e a t i o n as i t i s . 

One f u r t h e r reference to the serpent w i l l c l a r i f y h i s 
"poison" and b r i n g the d i s c u s s i o n back to "Notes...." The 
a s s o c i a t i o n of Ananke w i t h the serpent i n "Like Decorations i n 
a Nigger Cemetary" i s the i n i t i a l stage i n the development of 
the image: 

The sense of the serpent i n you, Ananke, 
And your averted s t r i d e 
Add nothing to the h o r r o r of the f r o s t 
That g l i s t e n s on your face and h a i r . (CP 152) 

This i s the u n - u p l l f t e d serpent, when man must s u f f e r the agony 
of an existence completely h i s own, an a b s u r d i s t existence i n 
the v o i d . I r o n i c a l l y , the v o i d i s man's own c r e a t i o n - the 
u l t i m a t e product of h i s d e s i r e to possess absolute t r u t h . A f t e r 
he has seen h i s more amenable mythologies destroyed because they 
were only images i n time, man i s l e f t w i t h only h i s own b l i n d 
need to c r e a t e . I f Bradley's view of the meaning of "nigger" 
can be accepted without f u l l y accepting h i s treatment of the 
poem, then the p o s i t i o n can be c l e a r l y seen: 

"Nigger" represents i n other Stevens' poems, a l s o , the 
p r i m i t i v e b a s i s f o r a l l conscious l i f e . The poem "The 
Newstand and the Weather" speaks of "... a nigger 
fragment, a mystique/For the s p i r i t l e f t h e l p l e s s by 
the i n t e l l i g e n c e . " This nigger fragment i s a r e t u r n 
from the i n t e l l i g e n c e or f a c t u a l r e a l i t y to i n s t i n c t i v e 
l i v i n g . According to Stevens, one of man's b a s i c 
i n s t i n c t s i s h i s i n s t i n c t f o r a s s i g n i n g meanings to 
h i s experiences; thus "nigger" i s the u r - a r t i s t , the 
unadorned i n s t i n c t f o r creation.°° 

The poison i s the apparently endless n e c e s s i t y to create 



144 

e s s e n t i a l l y meaningless images i n an incessant round of c r e a t i o n 
and d e s t r u c t i o n . I t resembles the i n i t i a l movement of the 
" v i r i l e poet" i n h i s process of p u r i f i c a t i o n , and the t r a n s -
formation of the snake image that has taken place by "St. John 
and the Back-Ache" resembles the completion of h i s o s c i l l a t i o n . 
Related images from the same poem demonstrate t h a t , while i n - 
d i v i d u a l poems c o n t a i n i n mlnature the o s c i l l a t i o n of the " c e n t r a l  
poet t" The C o l l e c t e d Poems contains the vast surge of the s p i r i t  
toward i t s a p o c a l y p t i c v i s i o n - the t o t a l o s c i l l a t i o n of the 
f a l l e n man. "Nigger", f o r example, i s deposed, i n a long and 
i n v o l v e d process, by "the shepherd and h i s b l a c k forms" (CP 4 8 0 ) 
of "An Ordinary Evening...." Part of the process i s v i s i b l e i n 
"Prelude to Objects" when the n e c e s s i t y of c r e a t i n g becomes i t -
s e l f the object of concern: 

One i s always seeing and f e e l i n g o n e s e l f , 
That's not by chance. I t comes to t h i s : 
That the g u e r i l l a I should be booked 
And bound. I t s nigger mystics should change 
Foolscap f o r wigs. Academies 
As of a t r a g i c science should r i s e . (CP 195) 

The b a s i s of the change had been contained i n companion epigrams: 
NUDITY AT THE CAPITAL 

But nakedness, woolen massa, concerns an innermost atom. 
I f that remains concealed, what does the bottom matter?. 

NUDITY IN THE COLONIES 
Black man, b r i g h t nouveaute's leave one, at b e s t , 
.pseudonymous. 

Thus one i s most d i s c l o s e d when one i s most anonymous. 
(CP 145) 

Benamou quotes only t h e . f i r s t epigram, thereby completely 
m i s s i n g the p o i n t : he says of i t , "This d e f i n e s nakedness as a 
q u a l i t y at the center (the c a p i t a l ) of being, and not as some-
t h i n g on the other side of a g l a s s w a l l , l i k e Mallarme's 'nudite 



145 
i d e a l e . " ' The whole p o i n t i s that the "woolen massa," i n h i s 
as yet un-exchanged wig, i s so engrossed w i t h h i s p h y s i c a l 
nakedness ("the g u e r i l l a I") that he leaves h i s soul concealed. 
His c a p i t a l , l i k e the " c a p i t o l " of the b r u t a l l y - s e x u a l "X" i n 
"Anecdote of Canna," i s the c a p i t o l of ego where "thought that 
wakes/In sleep may never meet another thought/Or t h i n g " (CP 55)• 
The second eipgram proves the p o i n t . "Nouveautes" means both 
new c l o t h e s and new ideas; to dress the naked ego i n e i t h e r i s 
t o f a l s i f y i t . True r e v e l a t i o n of the "innermost atom" c o n s i s t s 
i n a n n i h i l a t i o n ' o f the ego as i d e n t i t y . To experience anonymity 
i s the experience demanded by n e c e s s i t y - an experience of 
r e v e l a t i o n timorously refused by the r a t i o n a l i s t of "A Lot of 
People Bathing i n a Stream." 

The c i r c u i t o u s d i s c u s s i o n of a s i n g l e image - the poisonous 
"ravishments of t r u t h " i n I I of "Notes..." - i s j u s t i f i e d , I 
t h i n k , by the f a c t that the v i s i o n thus seen developing i n sev-
e r a l poems i s c r y p t i c a l l y contained w i t h i n " I t Must Be A b s t r a c t . " 
The d i s c o v e r y of the f a l l of Adam and the f a l s e n e s s of h i s 
p a r a d i s e , communicated as necessary impetus ( " c e l e s t i a l ennui") 
leads the i n d i v i d u a l consciousness back to the f i r s t i d e a . Quite 
simply - t h i s i s d e c r e a t i o n . The names Adam gave to things are 
dispensed w i t h ; h i s c r e a t i o n s become t r a s h . The exemplifying 
c r e a t i o n i n "Notes..." i s "Phoebus," but, as I have attempted to 
show, even i f i t were "nothingness" i t would have to be d i s -
pensed w i t h . I t i s the name of the t h i n g that i s destroyed and 
not the t h i n g i t s e l f , a f a c t Stevens made c l e a r at l e a s t as 
e a r l y as "The Man With The Blue G u i t a r " : 

Throw away the l i g h t s , the d e f i n i t i o n s , 
And say of what you see i n the dark 



146 

That i t i s t h i s or that i t i s t h a t , 
But do not use the r o t t e d names. 
How should you walk i n that space and know 
Nothing of the madness of space, 
Nothing of i t s jocular, p r o c r e a t i o n s ? 
Throw the l i g h t s away. Nothing must stand 
Between you and the shapes you take 
When the c r u s t of shape has been destroyed. (CP 183) 

Name as the " c r u s t of shape" i s a concept taken up and 
u t i l i z e d i n "Notes...." Decreation a p p l i e s not merely to things 
and s t a t e s and q u a l i t i e s , but to the gods themselves and to the 
a b s o l u t e . That i s why "There was a p r o j e c t f o r the sun and i s " 
(CP 3 8 1 ) . Decreation r e s u l t s i n the perception of the shape of 
t h i n g s as they are; that perception i s the mainspring of the 
poemj 

There was a muddy centre before we breathed. 
There was a myth before the myth began, 
Venerable and a r t i c u l a t e and complete. 
From t h i s the poem s p r i n g s ; that we l i v e i n a place 
That i s not our own and, much more, not ourselves 
And hard i t i s i n s p i t e of blazoned days. (CP 383) 

(There are enough mythic elements i n " I t Must Be A b s t r a c t " 
without making much of t h i s echo of Bernal Diaz' great meta-
p h y s i c a l quest i n MacLeish's Conquistador.) 

The p e r c e p t i o n of the shape of things as they are c a l l s 
i n t o p l a y the second phase of the v i a negativa - a b s t r a c t i o n . 
A b s t r a c t i o n i s the sublime movement of the poet, i n h i s poems, 
from involvement i n the 'fear and trembling' produced by the 
decreate p e r c e p t i o n . An example of the a b s t r a c t i v e process was 
"Mozart, 1 9 3 5 " (CP 1 3 1 ) ; i t should be kept i n mind because the 
p a t t e r n of the development of that process i n "Notes...." i s 
d i s c e r n i b l e , but not c l e a r . 



Ik? 

In I I I and V of " I t Must Be A b s t r a c t , " two semi-myths semi-
dreams are presented. To understand them i s to understand the 
motive f o r the long search f o r "the t h i n k e r of the f i r s t i d e a . " 
The f i r s t semi-myth comes a b r u p t l y at the end of an a f f i r m a t i o n 
t h a t "The poem, through candor, b r i n g s back a power again/That 
g i v e s a candid kind to e v e r y t h i n g . " What t h i s d i s c u s s i o n of 
the poem's r e f r e s h i n g power means i s that the poem i s a b l e , 
through the poet's acceptance of the f i r s t i d e a , to give candor 
( l i t e r a l l y s h i n i n g l i g h t ) t o "everything" - the images used to 
symbolize the f i r s t idea. But the meaning of the myth i s not 
as immediately c l e a r : 

We say: At night an Arabian i n my room, 
With h i s damned hoobla-hoobla-hoobla-how, 
I n s c r i b e s a p r i m i t i v e astronomy 
Across the unscrawled fores the f u t u r e casts 
And throws h i s s t a r s around the f l o o r . By day 
The wood-dove used to chant h i s hoobla-hoo 
And s t i l l the grossest i r i d e s c e n c e of ocean 
Howls hoo and r i s e s and howls hoo and f a l l s . 
L i f e ' s nonsense p i e r c e s us with strange r e l a t i o n . (CP 383) 

I was i n i t i a t e d i n t o t h i s myth because I chanced to glance 
through Wordsworth•s The Prelude one day: there may be other 
entrances. Once the i d e n t i t y of the Arabian has been e s t a b l i s h e d 
an i n t e r p r e t a t i o n can be made, and the Arabian i s , of course, 
Wordsworth's a p o c a l y p t i c "phantom Arab" (the u n d e r l i n i n g i s mine);: 

While I was seated i n a rocky cave 
By the sea-side, perusing, so i t chanced 
The famous h i s t o r y of the errant knight 
Sleep s e i z e d me, and I passed i n t o a dream. 
I saw before me s t r e t c h e d i n a boundless p l a i n 
Of sandy w i l d e r n e s s , a l l b l a c k and v o i d , 
And as I looked around, d i s t r e s s and f e a r 
Came creeping over me, when at my s i d e , 
Close at my s i d e , an uncouth shape appeared 



148 
He seemed an Arab.of the Bedouin t r i b e s 62 

Wordsworth's Arab c a r r i e s two objects - a stone seen as a copy 
of " E u c l i d ' s Elements" and a s h e l l which i s a l s o seen as a book 
"...that was a god, yea many gods/Had voices more than a l l the 
winds, w i t h power to e x h i l a r a t e the s p i r i t , and to soothe,/ 
Through every c l i m e , the heart of human k i n d . »63 Prom t h i s 
s h e l l emerges "An Ode, i n passion u t t e r e d , which foretold/De-
s t r u c t i o n to the c h i l d r e n of the earth/By deluge, now at hand."64 
So near at hand i s the d e s t r u c t i o n that the Arab leaves the 
dreamer because the "waters of the deep" are even then gather-
i n g upon them. 

Stevens incorporates t h i s dream to i n d i c a t e the agonizing 
nature of the experience of the decreate p e r c e p t i o n . More, he 
develops i t f u l l y , to i n d i c a t e the nature of a b s t r a c t i o n ; i n 
f a c t , the l a t t e r h a l f of " I t Must Be A b s t r a c t " p a r a l l e l s 
Wordsworth's search to recover the innocent eye of childhood i n 
"Book V" of The Prelude. (The p a r a l l e l c o n s t i t u t e s a resemblance.) 
In Stevens' mingled myth, the f l o o d i s the decreated present, the 
Arab and h i s " p r i m i t i v e astronomy" are parts of prophecy, and the 
wood-dove (presumably Noah's dove) i s part of the past. Now the 
wood-dove's 'nonsensical' song was of s a l v a t i o n i n the world 
through the grace granted to f a i t h and good works; the Arab's 
song i s of s a l v a t i o n through the a p o c a l y p t i c v i s i o n of some 
" p r i m i t i v e " astronomy of the yet-to-be created f u t u r e ; and the 
ocean has i t s obscure song i n the l i g h t which plays upon i t s 
waters. A l l these songs are obscure, but they are a l l r e l a t e d . 

The master does -not p o s i t t h i s mingled myth as something to 
be b e l i e v e d i n ; he c a l l s i t " l i f e ' s nonsense". Rather, i t i s to 



149 

be the subject f o r meditation on the part of the ephebe - a 
problem, c a l l e d i n t o being by the d i s s a t i s f a c t o r y nature of 
d e s i r e , the s o l u t i o n of • which w i l l provide the key to the proper 

stance to adopt i n order to w r i t e a poetry that "...refreshes 
l i f e , so that we share,/For a moment, the f i r s t i d e a . . . . " (CP 382) 

In the developmental scheme of the l e c t u r e , IV i s a h i n t 
tossed to the ephebe about the nature of the s o l u t i o n , and V 
represents h i s i n i t i a l attempt. What he i s d e a l i n g w i t h here 
i s the " p r i m i t i v e astronomy" of the Arab, f o r the images h e r e i n 

are not of animals, as i s u s u a l l y supposed, but of c o n s t e l l a t i o n s : 

The l i o n roars at the enraging d e s e r t , 
Reddens the sand w i t h h i s red-colored n o i s e , 
Defies red emptiness to evolve h i s match, 

Master by f o o t and jaws and by the mane, 
Most supple c h a l l e n g e r . The elephant 
Breaches the darkness of Ceylon w i t h b l a r e s , 
The g l i t t e r - g o e s on surfaces of tanks, 
S h a t t e r i n g v e l v e t e s t far-away. The bear, 
The ponderous cinnamon, s n a r l s i n h i s mountain 
At summer thunder and sleeps through winter snow...(CP 384) 

The a s t r o l o g y of t h i s passage i s not A r a b i c , but r a t h e r a 
b r i l l i a n t mingling of Eygptian, Buddhist, and Zuni myths, i n that 
order. 

With the Zunis, Ursa Major was important as marking 
the seasons. They say that when winter comes the Bear 
l a z i l y s l e e p s , no longer guarding the westland from 
the c o l d of the i c e gods...but, when the Bear, awaken-
i n g , growls i n the springtime and the answering thunder 
mutters, the s t r e n g t h of the i c e gods being shaken, the 
r e i g n of summer begins again. " 5 

"The sun glows i n the l i o n , " says Seneca.... The p l a c -
ing of the f i e r y and f e r o c i o u s L i o n . . . i n t h i s part of 
the sky, symbolised the f a c t that the sun reigned 
supreme when i t a r r i v e d i n t h i s c o n s t e l l a t i o n . 

The con-
n e c t i o n between the sun, k i n g of the heavenly h o s t s , 
and the l i o n , k i n g of beasts, i s obvious. Macrobius 



150 

says? "This beast seems to d e r i v e h i s own nature from 
that luminary...being i n force and heat as s u p e r i o r 
to a l l other animals as the sun i s to the stars."66 

In Buddhist a s t r o l o g y , the l i o n becomes the elephant when 
the sun i s i n i t s s i g n . 

The mingling i s extremely complicated, but the paramount 
r e l a t i o n among a l l the images involves the r e t u r n of the sun or 
the idea of the sun i n t h e i r s i g n . This i s the p r o j e c t at hand. 
I f I read the a s t r o l o g y c o r r e c t l y , the seasonal i n c o n s i s t e n c i e s 
make the n i g h t i n which the s t a r s appear not the r e a l n i g h t , 
but 'the dark night of the s o u l . ' The bear passes through a 
c y c l e of seasons, so the sun must 'come and go' l i k e the "hermit 
i n a poet's metaphors." This means that the sun must pass 
through the l i o n - e l e p h a n t (and i n so doing r e v e a l i t s ambiv-
alence as generative and d e s t r u c t i v e f o r c e ) . But the ephebe 
cannot see the sun; he can only see the images of the sun. For 
him, l i o n equals Phoebus; he cannot make h i s n i g h t day. 

The cause of the ephebe's f a i l u r e i s r a t h e r ambiguously 
analyzed by the master i n the l a t t e r h a l f of V: 

But you, ephebe, look from your a t t i c window, 
Your mansard w i t h a rented piano. YOu l i e 
In s i l e n c e upon-, your bed. You c l u t c h the corner 
Of the p i l l o w i n your hand. You writhe and press 
A b i t t e r utterance from your w r i t h i n g , dumb, 
Yet v o l u b l e dumb v i o l e n c e . You look 
Across the roofs as s i g i l and as ward 
And i n your centre mark them and are cowed... 
These are the h e r o i c c h i l d r e n whom time breeds 
Against the f i r s t Idea - to l a s h the l i o n , 
Caparison elephants, teach bears to juggle. (CP 3 8 4 - 8 5 ) 

The ephebe q u i t e l i t e r a l l y repeats the lesson learned i n "Mozart, 
1 9 3 5 " but t h i s time with e l a b o r a t i o n because more images can now 
be o r i e n t e d , l i k e i r o n f i l i n g s , i n the magnetic o s c i l l a t i o n . 



151 

What the master t e l l s him, i n s u r p r i s i n g l y contemptuous tones, 
i s that the c o n s t e l l a t i o n s are doing t h e i r job - f u n c t i o n i n g 
as e x i s t e n t images - but he i s s l u f f i n g h i s . Stevens' ephebe 
i s supposed to be " s i g i l " and "ward1 1 - guardian of h i s c i v i -
l i z a t i o n and at the same time a s i g n to that c i v i l i z a t i o n of, 
or possessing, mysterious power. But the ephebe i s "cowed" 
by "the r o o f s . " The reading could be supported by examining 
the f u n c t i o n of housing s t r u c t u r e s i n other poems, but i t seems 
c l e a r enough from the mere syntax. The "centre" i s once again 
the ego r e s i s t i n g the experience of the absolute - a point 
emphasized by "your". 

The f i n a l stanza may be ambiguous, but i t s e s s e n t i a l mean-
i n g i s not i n doubt. E l l i p s i s , i t has been noted, i s o f t e n 
used by Stevens to covey i r o n y , and an i r o n i c reading of the 
stanza r e v e a l s that "heroic c h i l d r e n " i s a s a r c a s t i c reference 
to the ephebe. The expression takes up and a l t e r s the meaning 
of "ward" and d r i v e s home the lesson learned i n I I about d e s i r e 
by making the c h i l d a spawn of time. C h i l d r e n i s a l e g i t i m a t e 
g e n e r a l i z a t i o n about 'today's youth.' The f u l l i r o n y i s that 
merely through f e a r the c h i l d r e n should be able to perform the 
h e r o i c f e a t of taming e x i s t e n t images - of reducing them to 
names. 

VI i s , as I have s a i d , a demonstration of the proper per-
c e p t i o n of the f i r s t i d e a . The demonstration i s appropriate i n 
view of the woes of the ephebe. The f a c t that the f i r s t idea 
i s to be "without a r o o f " comes i n t o prominence; l i t e r a l l y i t 
i s not to be contained w i t h i n s t r u c t u r e s - i t s home i s not to 
be man's world. The sudden a l t e r a t i o n from night to day between 



152 

V and VI s t r e s s e s the v a l i d i t y of the demonstration; and the 
d i f f i c u l t l i n e "The dark-blown c e i n t u r e loosened, not r e l i n -
quished" suggests a c o n t i n u a t i o n of a s t r o l o g i c a l images by 
blending i n the "Donna, donna, dark,/Stooping i n indigo gown/ 
And cloudy c o n s t e l l a t i o n s . . . " of "0 F l o r i d a , Venereal S o i l " (CP 4 7 ) . 
That l a d y , had she not been c o r r u p t l y sensuous, could have be-
come the poet's muse and worn the crown of Ariadne. In any 
case, VI p o s i t s the t r u e home of the f i r s t idea - i n the per-
c e p t i v e contemplation of the " g i a n t " : 

The weather and the g i a n t of the weather, 
Say the weather, the mere weather, the mere a i r : 
An a b s t r a c t i o n blooded, as a man by thought. (CP 3 8 5 ) 

I t i s time that the b e a u t i f u l i n v e r s i o n i n the l a s t l i n e be 
p u b l i c l y heralded. One would expect, i n the l o g i c of the t h i n g , 
the phrase 'a thought by man.' But here, i t i s the man who i s 
the " a b s t r a c t i o n " and the i n v e r s i o n gives t o "blooded" the 
wondrously exact meaning of i n i t i a t i o n i n t o k i n s h i p by the 
blooding r i t e (as i n Faulkner's The Bear). The t h i n k e r of the  
f i r s t idea contemplates i t . He does not worship i t because i t 
i s without " F i r s t f r u i t s " , nor does he f e a r i t . He contemplates 
i t and i n consequence h i s "...house has changed a l i t t l e i n the 
sun." The world he l i v e s i n has changed a l i t t l e , and he, i n 
becoming a g i a n t , has been almost a n n i h i l a t e d as ego-man. 

VII can be d e a l t w i t h by n o t i n g i t s resemblance to "Of 
B r i g h t & Blue B i r d s & the Gala Sun" (CP 2 4 8 ) and by a p p l y i n g 
Marie B o r o f f ' s comment on that poem to t h i s s e c t i o n : 

The d i s c i p l i n e s of observation and meditation are 
means toward apprehending an order i n which s a t i s -
f a c t i o n can be found. But such apprehensions are not 
e n t i r e l y under the c o n t r o l of the w i l l . A sense of 
order and meaningfulness i n existence can descend upon 



153 

the mind u n a n t i c i p a t e d , f l o o d i n g i t with joy. ...In 
these spontanelous remissions of human misery we 
experience "a g a i e t y that i s being, not merely know-
i n g . "...Beneficences of weather and season can 
indeed make us forget the e s s e n t i a l tragedy of our 
c o n d i t i o n . 

67 

Such moments i n VI, however, are on the edge between sleep and 
awakening, between the 'dark night of the s o u l ' and i t s f u l l 
p e r c e p t i o n of d a y l i g h t . What that soul then beholds i s "The 
academies l i k e s t r u c t u r e s i n a m i s t . " These academies are the 
ones "As of a t r a g i c s c i e n c e " i n "Prelude to Objects" (CP 195) 
now seen i n a more promising l i g h t . They are s t i l l t r a g i c , but 
the " i n c a l c u l a b l e balances" act as guarantees of the eventual 
r e l e a s e and joy to be found i n the t r a g i c study of the p r i n -
c i p l e s by which Ananke governs the world. The academy becomes 
a d e s i r a b l e t h i n g r a t h e r than a necessary t h i n g because of the 
f o r t u i t o u s r e v e l a t i o n s of V I I . 

The f i n a l three s e c t i o n s of " I t Must Be A b s t r a c t " create 
new obscurations by i n v o l v i n g the ephebe i n the concept of 
"major man." To get at those obscurations i t i s necessary to 
r e j e c t the almost u n i v e r s a l acclamation of "the MacC.ullough" as 
Stevens' u l t i m a t e hero, and to see him as he r e a l l y i s - the 
f i n a l evasion of the ephebe. He i s s t r i c t l y the ephebe's con-
c e p t i o n and c o n s t i t u t e s a r e t u r n to Adams 

Can we compose a c a s t l e - f o r t r e s s - h o m e , 
Even with the help of V i o l l e t - l e - D u c , 
And set the MacCullough there as major man? 
The f i r s t idea i s an imagined t h i n g . (CP 387) 

The passage c i t e d r e c a l l s , i n i t s very rhythm, a passage from 
"The Man With The Blue Guitar"s 

And s h a l l I then stand i n the sun, as now 
I stand i n the moon, and c a l l i t good, 



154 

The Immaculate, the m e r c i f u l good, 
Detached from us, from things as they are? 
Not to be p a r t of the sun? To stand 
Remote and c a l l i t m e r c i f u l ? 
The s t r i n g s are c o l d on the blue g u i t a r . (CP 168) 

The Orphic symbols leap out of the words here, but the point i s 
to note t h a t the master's statement, "The f i r s t idea i s an im-
agined t h i n g , " i s equivalent to the g u i t a r i s t ' s d e s c r i p t i o n of 
h i s g u i t a r ' s r e a c t i o n . The ephebe's concept of the MacCullough 
i s a v i o l a t i o n of the maxim l a i d down i n I - "Never suppose an 
i n v e n t i n g mind as source/Of t h i s i d e a . . . . " 

V i o l l e t - l e - D u c was a r a t i o n a l i s t t h e o r i s t of a r c h i t e c t u r e , 
h i s t o r i c a l l y noted f o r h i s attempt to r a t i o n a l i z e the gothic by 
viewing i t as u t i l i t a r i a n (e.g. gargoyles as r a i n s p o u t s ) . His 
view i s probably an advance from the purely d e c o r a t i v e theory, 
but i t i s an advance i n the wrong d i r e c t i o n . "The MacCullough" 
i s an analogous view of "the t h i n k e r of the f i r s t i d e a . " His 
name, even beyond the damming f a c t that he has a name, i n d i c a t e s 
h i s inadequacy. The legend of the MacCullough c l a n i s ( t r a n s l a t e d ) 
"before the memory of man." A v a r i a n t s p e l l i n g of the name 
makes the meaning "son of the boar", which i s i r o n i c : a 
MacCullough who p o s i t s the MacCullough i n v o l v e s h i m s e l f i n an 
i n f i n i t e r e g r e s s , a k i n d of search f o r a p r e - a r c h e t y p a l f a t h e r . 

That Stevens was aware of t h i s business of. the name i s 
c l e a r l y shown by the master's d e s c r i p t i o n of the proper major 
man i n IX: 

He i s and may be but oh! he i s , he i s , 
This f o u n d l i n g of the i n f e c t e d past, so b r i g h t , 
So moving i n the manner of h i s hand. 
Yet look not at h i s c o l o r e d eyes. Give him 



155 

No names. Dismiss him from your images. 
The hot of him i s purest i n the h e a r t . (CP 388) 

The f u n c t i o n of academies, i t must be remembered, i s to 
"book" the I and study i t s t r a g i c separation from i t s grounds 
of existence and i f p o s s i b l e , to recover that ground through 
such a study. V I I I and IX are two books, not j u s t two v e r s i o n s . 
The study of "the MacCullough" would d i s c o v e r the grounds of 
the ego's e x i s t e n c e ; the study of the master's major man would 
recover the grounds of the existence of "the innermost atom." 
The master's "major man" i s a symbol, l i k e the sun, f o r the 
f i r s t i d e a . His o r i g i n i s i n the u l t i m a t e d i s c o v e r y of 
MacCullough that "...the MacCullough i s MacCullough" and h i s 
consequent r e t u r n to a study of the waters which engulf hims 

I f MacCullough h i m s e l f l a y lounging by the sea,. 
Drowned i n i t s washes, reading i n the sound, 
About the t h i n k e r of the f i r s t i d e a , 
He might take h a b i t , whether from wave or phrase, 
Or power of the wave, or deepened speech, 
Or a leaner being, moving i n on him, 
Of g r e a t e r a p t i t u d e and apprehension, 
As i f the waves at l a s t were never broken, 
As i f the language suddenly, w i t h ease, 
Said t h i n g s i t had l a b o r i o u s l y spoken. (CP 387) 

L i k e Wordsworth drowsing by the sea, MacCullough w i l l have h i s 
experience. In mawkishly r e l i g o u s terms, the l i g h t upon the 
waters w i l l enter h i s s p i r i t and h i s soul w i l l become a "leaner 
b e i n g " - t r u e symbol- because i t w i l l be f r e e of h i s ego. 

The t r a n s i t i o n from IX to X, during which MacCullough 
l o s e s h i s name i n the t r a d i t i o n a l manner of those who are reborn 
i n the s p i r i t , i s very c a r e f u l l y handled. I t has, f o r example, 
i t s d e l i c a t e c o r r e l a t i o n s w i t h Wordsworth's The Prelude. In 
The Prelude, Wordsworth i s moved to c e l e b r a t e , because of h i s 



156 
e x p e r i e n c e N a t u r e * self,/And things that teach as Nature 
teaches... "68 n j _ s c e l e b r a t i o n of the books of the poets 

trembles on the edge of an apotheosis of the poets: 
'T i s j u s t that i n behalf of these, the works, 
And of the men that framed them, whether known 
Or s l e e p i n g nameless i n t h e i r s c a t t e r e d graves, 
That I should a s s e r t t h e i r r i g h t s , a t t e s t 
Their honours, and should, once f o r a l l , pronounce 
Their b e n e d i c t i o n ; speak of them as Powers 
For ever to be hallowed; only l e s s , 
For what we are and what we may become, 
Than Nature's s e l f , which i s the breath of God, 
Or His pure Word by m i r a c l e revealed.69 

The master of "Notes...." w i l l grant that such benedictions are 
the n a t u r a l trappings of "the major man," but he knows, too, 
t h a t "the major man" has a purpose and must s u f f e r to achieve 
that purpose: 

The romantic i n t o n i n g , the declaimed c l a i r v o y a n c e 
Are p a r t s of apotheosis, appropriate 
And of i t s nature, the idiom thereof. 
They d i f f e r from reason's c l i c k - c l a c k , i t s . a p p l i e d 
E n f l a s h i n g s . But apotheosis i s not 
The o r i g i n of major man. (CP 387) 

The nature of the major man's task i s exposed i n X: 
The major a b s t r a c t i o n i s the idea of man 
And major man i s i t s exponent, a b l e r 
In the a b s t r a c t than i n h i s s i n g u l a r , 
More fecund as p r i n c i p l e than p a r t i c l e , 
Happy f e c u n d i t y , flor-abundant f o r c e , 
In being more than an exception, p a r t , 
Though an h e r o i c p a r t , of the commonal. (CP 388) 

I f one remembers the i n j u n c t i o n to the poet of "Mozart, -1935" -
"Be thou the voice.Not you" (CP 132) - and the f i n a l l i n e of 
"Nudity i n the C o l o n i e s " - "Thus one i s most d i s c l o s e d when one 
i s most anonymous" (CP 1̂ 5) - the f u n c t i o n of the major man i s 
c l e a r : 

Who i s i t ? 



157 

. ... i n h i s o l d coat, . 
His s l o u c h i n g pantaloons, beyond the town, 
Looking f o r what was, where i t used to be? 
Cloudless the morning. I t i s he. The man 
In that o l d coat, those sagging pantaloons, 
I t i s of him, ephebe, to make, to confect 
The f i n a l elegance, not to console 
Nor s a n c t i f y , but p l a i n l y to propound. (CP 388-89) 

Stevens i s seldom unambiguous, but here the almost p e r f e c t 
a m b i g u i t i e s are not created from any d e s i r e to obscure or evade 
the f u n c t i o n of the "major man"; on the c o n t r a r y , they r e v e a l 
i t . He i s " p r i n c i p l e " r a t h e r than " p a r t i c l e " both of the f i r s t 
idea and of the "commonal" - a C h r i s t . The "commonal" i s a 
comic f i g u r e i n h i s rags; but he i s a l s o the t r a g i c s a n s c u l o t t l s t , 
dispossessed by h i s act of r e b e l l i o n , the f i g u r e of a f a l l e n 
Adam outside Eden "Looking f o r what was, where i t used to be." 
The town i s ' Eden i n one sense, the malformations of a self-aware 
Adam i n another. The ephebe, who presumably p a r t i c i p a t e d i n the 
r e b i r t h of V I I I and IX, i s not "to console/Nor s a n c t i f y " 
because there can be n e i t h e r f o r Adam as long as he remains Adam, 
but out of him can be 'confected' "the f i n a l elegance" - the 
p u t t i n g together of q u a l i t i e s s e l e c t e d from him, s p e c i f i c a l l y 
from the images he produces. 

In sum, the movement of a b s t r a c t i o n corresponds to the 
second stage of the p u r i f y i n g o s c i l l a t i o n of the " v i r i l e poet". 
He has a b s t r a c t e d himself from h i s imagination to a p o i n t at 
which he can see the imaginations of those around him and can, 
because he no longer d e s i r e s to possess the t r u t h conceived by 
h i s own ego, s e l e c t those elements present i n the imagination 



158 

of the commonal. He engages i n what Stevens' terms "a science 
of i l l u s i o n s " (NA 1 3 9 ) * "The c o r p o r e a l would e x i s t s as the 
common denominator of the i n c o r p o r e a l worlds of i t s i n h a b i t -
a n t s " (NA 1 1 8 ) . As though to prove that j u s t such a concept 
was i n h i s mind, the master of "Notes..." invokes the muse as 
mask: "My dame, s i n g f o r t h i s person accurate songs" (CP 3 8 8 ) . 
The r e s t of "Notes...." i s a f i l l i n g out, as i t were, of the 
muse, the f i n a l r e s o l u t i o n of Ariadne and the P l o r i d e a n Venus, 
the f u l l y e x i s t e n t image of Wordsworthian "Nature" as Stevens 
i n d i c a t e d i n h i s l e t t e r to Church: 

The f a t g i r l i s e a r t h : what the p o l i t i c i a n s now-a-days 
are c a l l i n g the globe, xtfhich somehow, as i t revolves 
i n t h e i r minds, does, I suppose, resemble some great 
object i n a p a r t i c u l a r l y blue area....I am always 
s u r p r i s e d by the p a r t i c u l a r things that people f i n d 
obscure. But, a f t e r a l l , one's own symbols may not 
be everyone's.7 0 

The laughter of the gods could not be more i n s u l t i n g than 
Stevens' f i n a l comment, nor could the i r o n y of the p o l i t i c i a n s ' 
view of the r e a l world be more intense. 

Reference to the f i n a l movement of Stevens' mind brings 
t h i s t h e s i s to a c l o s e at a p o i n t where, i d e a l l y , i t should 
begin. One can give i t a name by r e c a l l i n g Stevens' d e s c r i p t i o n 
of Leo S t e i n ' s d i s c o v e r y of a r t (the u n d e r l i n i n g i s mine): 

He says t h a t , xshen he was a c h i l d , he became aware of 
composition i n nature and g r a d u a l l y r e a l i z e d that a r t 
and composition are one 

He improvished a d e f i n i t i o n 
of a r t : that i t i s nature seen i n the l i g h t of i t s 
s i g n i f i c a n c e , and r e c o g n i z i n g that t h i s s i g n i f i c a n c e  
was one of forms he added "formal" to " s i g n i f i c a n c e . " 
...By composition he meant the compositional use of 
words: the use of t h e i r e x i s t e n t i a l meanings. Com-
p o s i t i o n was h i s passion. He considered that a f o r -
mally complete p i c t u r e i s one i n which a l l the parts 
are so r e l a t e d to one another that they a l l imply each 
other. (NA l6l-62) 



159 

C a l l i t composition, then, and r e l a t e i t to Stevens' d i s c u s s i o n 
of the i d e a l l y composed poem - "A group of images i n harmony 
w i t h each other would c o n s t i t u t e a poem w i t h i n , or above, a 
poem" (NA ?8). The u l t i m a t e composition, the u l t i m a t e poem, i s 
the Book, and one sees i n i t s mere conception the n e c e s s i t y f o r 
the movements of d e c r e a t i o n - a b s t r a c t i o n s 

...these are the p i c t o r i a l i z a t i o n s of men, f o r whom 
the w o r l d - e x i s t s as a. world and f o r whom l i f e e x i s t s 
as l i f e , the objects of t h e i r passions, the objects 
before which they come and speak, w i t h intense choos-
i n g , words that \*ie remember and make our own. Their 
words have made a world that transcends the world 
and a l i f e l i v a b l e i n t h a t transcendence. I t i s a 
transcendence achieved by means of the minor e f f e c t s 
of c o n f i g u r a t i o n s and the major e f f e c t s of the poet's 
sense of the world and of "the motive music of h i s 
poems and i t i s the imaginative dynamism of a l l these 
analogies together. Thus poetry becomes and i s a 
transcendent analogue composed of the p a r t i c u l a r s of 
r e a l i t y , created by the poet's sense of the world, 
that i s to say, h i s a t t i t u d e , as he intervenes and 
Interposes the appearances of that sense. (NA 130) 

I n e v i t a b l y , the' d i s c u s s i o n of d e c r e a t i o n - a b s t r a c t i o n has 
e n t a i l e d a p r e l i m i n a r y view of composition because they are 
p a r t of the s i n g l e process of composition - the Joycean dramatic 
impulse, "The whole of the s o u l " i n "Lions i n Sweden" (CP 124) 
as i t seeks and f i n d s i t s "sovereign images," the expanding of 
the Mallarmean "signature of genius - as anonymous and p e r f e c t 
as a work of a r t . " Composition manifests i t s e l f i n the i n -
d i v i d u a l poem i n the d e c r e a t i o n and recomposition that creates 
the e x i s t e n t image. But the r e a l l y awesome t h i n g i s the pos-
s i b i l i t y , more the unproven c e r t a i n t y , that i n the t o t a l 
o s c i l l a t i o n of The C o l l e c t e d Poems a l l of Stevens' words undergo  
the same process and become e x i s t e n t images. 

The name I would l i k e to appropriate f o r t h i s aspect of 



160 
Stevens' compositional technique i s r e p e t i t i o n . In p a r t , the 
j u s t i f i c a t i o n f o r the names d e r i v e s from Stevens' d e s c r i p t i o n 
of the idea i n "Three Academic P i e c e s " ! 

. . . i t i s not too extravagant to t h i n k of resemblances 
and of the r e p e t i t i o n s of resemblances as a source of 
the i d e a l . In s h o r t , metaphor has i t s aspect of the 
i d e a l . This aspect of i t cannot be dismissed merely 
because we t h i n k that we have long since o u t l i v e d the 
i d e a l . The t r u t h i s that we are c o n s t a n t l y o u t l i v i n g 
i t and yet the i d e a l i t s e l f remains a l i v e with an 
enormous l i f e . . (NA 81-82) 

But the concept of r e p e t i t i o n occurs repeatedly i n the poems as 
w e l l , i n contexts which define the progressive nature of the 
technique. 

The a p p l i c a t i o n of i t as technique i n the nisus a f t e r 
e x i s t e n t images, i s the p o i n t of a passage i n "Academic Discourse 
at Havana"} 

Is the f u n c t i o n of the poet here mere sound, 
S u b t l e r than the ornatest prophecy, 
To s t u f f the ear? I t causes him to make 
His i n f i n i t e r e p e t i t i o n and a l l o y s 
Of p i c k of ebon, p i c k of halcyon. 
His r a r i t i e s are ours: may they be f i t 
And r e c o n c i l e us to ourselves i n those 
True r e c o n c i l i n g s , dark, p a c i f i c words, 
And the a d r o i t e r harmonies of t h e i r f a l l . (CP 144) 

The world of Havana i s a f a l l e n world i n which symbols have been 
exchanged f o r , have become no more than, d e c o r a t i o n s : 

Canaries i n the morning, orchestras 
In the afternoon, balloons at n i g h t . That i s 
A d i f f e r e n c e , at l e a s t , from n i g h t i n g a l e s , 
Jehovah and the great sea-worm. (CP 142) 

The " a l l o y " which i s the object of r e p e t i t i o n s i s an a l l o y of 
the more valuable - the mythic white halycon - and the l e s s 
v a l u a b l e but p r e s e n t l y r e a l - the dark wood of the ebon. These 
syntheses make p o s s i b l e the symbol; the movement i s f a m i l i a r and 



161 

needs no d e t a i l e d e x p l a n a t i o n . The process i s , i n i t s e l f , a 
r e p e t i t i o n . 

Such i s perhaps the p o i n t of the n a r r a t o r i n IX of " I t 
Must Give Pleasure" of "Notes...." Freed from "every f i c t i o n , 
except one/The f i c t i o n of an a b s o l u t e " (CP 404), the n a r r a t o r 
becomes a composer of "vast r e p e t i t i o n s " : 

Red r o b i n , stop i n your preludes, p r a c t i c i n g 
Mere r e p e t i t i o n s . These things at l e a s t comprise 
An occupation, an e x e r c i s e , a work, 
A t h i n g f i n a l i n i t s e l f and, t h e r e f o r e , good: 
One of the vast r e p e t i t i o n s f i n a l i n 
Themselves and, t h e r e f o r e , good, the going round 
And round and round, the merely going round, 
U n t i l merely going round i s a f i n a l good, 
The way wine comes at a t a b l e i n a wood. 
And we enjoy l i k e men, the way a l e a f 
Above the t a b l e spins i t s constant s p i n , 
So that we look at i t w i t h pleasure, look 
At i t spinning i t s e c c e n t r i c measure. Perhaps, 
The man-hero i s not the e x c e p t i o n a l monster, 
But he that of r e p e t i t i o n i s most master. (CP 4 0 5 - 0 6 ) 

Without g e t t i n g too i n v o l v e d i n the images i n t h i s passage, i t 
must be pointed out that the song of the b i r d s i n "Notes" i s 
the opposite of the poet's i n "Mozart, 1 9 3 5 " ; they s i n g "Bethou 
me..." (CP 3 9 3 ) . Their constant s e i z u r e of every element i n 
the f i e l d of t h e i r existence makes of t h e i r act a "mere" 
r e p e t i t i o n - l i k e that of the e n d l e s s l y c r e a t i n g Adam. The 
n a r r a t o r ' s r e p e t i t i o n s , however, are "vast" because they are 
contained w i t h i n , and comprise, a work " f i n a l i n i t s e l f " - a 
n a t u r a l d e s c r i p t i o n of the Book. 

Note, too, that the d e s c r i p t i o n of the n a r r a t o r ' s r e p e t i -
t i o n i s not of a repeated i d e n t i c a l a c t , but of "going round,/ 
U n t i l merely going round i s a f i n a l good." The developmental 



162 

r e p e t i t i o n of round here gives i t the same sense i t has i n "On 
the Road Home": 

I t was at that time, that the s i l e n c e was l a r g e s t 
And l o n g e s t , the night was roundest, 
The fragrance of the autumn warmest, 
C l o s e s t and s t r o n g e s t . (CP 2 0 4 ) 

The g i s t of "On the Road Home" i s that the t r u t h becomes most 
evident when f i x e d forms of i t are decreated. The point of the 
r e p e t i t i o n of round i n "Notes..." i s that the d e c r e a t i v e - r e -
c o n s t i t u t i v e r e p e t i t i o n of the image makes i t rounder - an 
e x i s t e n t image - and the r e p e t i t i o n of that roundness leads to 
"the f i n a l good" which i s , i n terms of the Book, "the very 
s i l e n c e of the poem, i n i t s blank spaces, as that s i l e n c e i s 
t r a n s l a t e d by each s t r u c t u r a l element i n i t s own way." The 
leaves here are reminiscent of the leaves i n Hopkin's sonnet 
"Spring and F a l l : To a .Young C h i l d . " The master of r e p e t i t i o n 
can contemplate the absolute as i t manifests i t s e l f i n the 
seasons "Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal. l i e . " 

The compositional use of r e p e t i t i o n , s p e c i f i c a l l y the 
r e p e t i t i o n of resemblances, r e s u l t s i n symbol, and symbols .which 
c o n t a i n the "going round" of r e p e t i t i o n w i t h i n themselves r e s u l t 
i n r e l e a s e from r e p e t i t i o n by becoming a completed t h i n g through 
which the a b s t r a c t consciousness can contemplate the e t e r n a l . 
New Haven as " t o t a l double t h i n g " i s an i l l u s t r a t i o n : 

The c o n s o l a t i o n s of space are nameless t h i n g s . 
I t was a f t e r the neurosis of w i n t e r . I t was 
In the genius of summer, that they blew up 
The statue of Jove among the boomy clouds. 
I t took a l l day to quieten the sky 
And then to r e f i l l i t s emptiness a g a i n , 
So that at the edge of afternoon, not over, 
Before the thought of evening had occurred 



163 

Or the sound of Incomicia had been s e t , 
There was a c l e a r i n g , a readiness f o r f i r s t b e l l s , 
An opening f o r outpouring, the hand was r a i s e d : 
There was a w i l l i n g n e s s not yet composed, 
A knowing that something c e r t a i n had been proposed, 
Which, without the s t a t u e , would be new, 
An escape from r e p e t i t i o n , a happening 
In space and the s e l f , that touched them both at.once 
And a l i k e (CP 482-83) 

"Incomincia" i s a t h r e e - f o l d pun. The coinage suggests p o l i t i c a l 
bureaucracy as a pun on incoming (as opposed to "outpouring"), 
but i t a l s o c a r r i e s the sound of "incommence" (non-beginning). 
Anyway, Incomlncia supplanted the statue's f u n c t i o n i n space as 
s t e r i l e s e t t i n g of "the thought of evening" i n t o r e a l i t y , and 
destroyed the p o s s i b i l i t y of "An escape from r e p e t i t i o n , a 
happening." The image of p o l i t i c a l man takes over the f u n c t i o n 
of the statue of Jove. "Marx has ruined Nature,/For the moment" 
(CP 134). 

A f i n a l n o t a t i o n on the concept of r e p e t i t i o n as technique 
must be made. The s t r o n g l y a u t o b i o g r a p h i c a l element of "The 
P l a i n Sense of Things" makes i t necessary: 

I t i s as i f 
We had come to an end of the imagination, 
Inanimate i n an i n e r t s a v o i r . 
I t i s d i f f i c u l t even to choose the a d j e c t i v e 
For t h i s blank c o l d , t h i s sadness without cause. 
The great s t r u c t u r e has become a minor house. 
No turban walks across the lessened f l o o r s . 
The greenhouse never so badly needed p a i n t . 
The chimney i s f i f t y years o l d and s l a n t s to one s i d e . 
A f a n t a s t i c e f f o r t has f a i l e d , a r e p e t i t i o n 
In a r e p e t i t i o u s n e s s of men and f l i e s . (CP 502) 

This i s an extremely touching poem about the C h r i s t - f i g u r e of 
the poet paying the cost of h i s kenosis - l i k e the f i g u r e of 



164 
"The Men That Are F a l l i n g " : 

What i s i t he d e s i r e s ? 
But t h i s he cannot know, the man that t h i n k s , 
Yet l i f e i t s e l f , the f u l f i l l m e n t of d e s i r e 
In the g r i n d i n g r i c - r a c , s t a r i n g s t e a d i l y 
At a head upon the p i l l o t ? i n the dark, 
More than sudarium, speaking the speech 
Of absolutes 

Speak and say the immaculate s y l l a b l e s 
That he spoke only by doing what he d i d . 
God and a l l angels, t h i s was h i s d e s i r e , 
Whose head l i e s b l u r r i n g here, f o r t h i s he d i e d . 
Taste of the blood upon h i s martyred l i p s , 
0 pensioners, 0 demagogues and pay-men! 
This death was h i s b e l i e f though death i s a stone. 
This man loved e a r t h , not heaven, enough to d i e . (CP 188) 

The poet, l i k e C h r i s t , must pay the cost of h i s awareness of 
the d i v i n e love f o r man. His words are not, l i k e the prayers 
of the m ystic, d i r e c t e d to the a b s o l u t e ; they are the speech of 
the absolute d i r e c t e d to men. The denunciation "0 pensioners, 
0 demagogues and pay-men" i s analogous to Blake's blanket de-
n u n c i a t i o n of those " h i r e d to depress A r t " i n h i s M i l t o n . 
C r i t i c s must " t a s t e of the blood upon h i s martyred l i p s " and 
know i t f o r what i t i s - "the speech of a b s o l u t e s . " 

To say that the n a r r a t o r of "The P l a i n Sense of Things" i s 
an analogous f i g u r e i s to d i s c o v e r the r e a l nature of Stevens' 
f e e l i n g about h i s value i n the market-place. The house i s both 
h i s a c t u a l house and h i s " A r c h i t e c t u r e " (OP 16). His l i f e had 
been spent i n transforming the things of man i n t o symbols of 
the absolute i n order to give man h i s d i g n i t y - h i s "candid 
k i n d . " In the s t e r n n e c e s s i t y of that labour of l o v e , he had 



165 

been forced to accept the world of man as he found i t — an 
imagined world i n which there was no imaginations 

Yet the absence of the imagination had 
I t s e l f to be imagined. (CP 503) 

Stevens d i d imagine that absence and i t s cure i n r e p e t i t i o n , 
but the c l a r i o n of that cure had been drowned out "In a r e p e t l -
tiousness of men and f l i e s . " The guardians of obscuration had, 
a p p a r e n t l y , not been enough to prevent the l e s s e n i n g of h i s 
" c h a s t e l de pensee", by the c r i t i c s of the market-place, i n t o 
Stevens' house, i n t o the mere expression of Stevens' mind. 
They had not entered, but they had i d e n t i f i e d the place and i t s 
owner. Where Stevens s a i d always "we" (he and the masks of h i s 
muse), they had s a i d "he" and ended the matter. 

I n t e r p o l a t e d as t h i s account of Stevens i n r e l a t i o n to h i s 
c r i t i c s might be, i t i s nonetheless true that the a c t u a l study 
of Stevens' words i n t h e i r Mallarmean " a l t e r n a t i o n s and r e l a -
t i o n s h i p s " i s s t i l l , at b e s t , only i n the a b o r t i v e stages of 
beginning. C r i t i c s have been remiss i n making h i s images signs 
r a t h e r than studying those v a r i a t i o n s i n "the v a r i a b l e symbol" -
those r e p e t i t i o n s of resemblances - that make images symbols. 

An i l l u s t r a t i o n of the d i f f e r e n c e i n approach and i t s con-
sequences i s observable i n connection w i t h the image of the rock. 

Two c r i t i c s have attempted to make the rock the c e n t r a l 
image i n a l l of Stevens' poems. M i l l s i s most c e r t a i n of i t s 
c e n t r a l i t y s 

The t i t l e given to the group, The Rock, f i g u r e s i n a 
number of the more important poems, and i t becomes 
evident that t h i s symbol i s appointed a heavy burden. 
I t i s to give a f i n a l character to the whole body of 
Stevens' poetry, i s s u i n g and r e c e i v i n g meaning i n a 
ceaseless flow of r e c i p r o c a l r e l a t i o n s w i t h i n that 



166 

body.71 
M i l l s recognises the convolutions of r e p e t i t i o n s i n Stevens' 
poems, and h i s development of the meaning of the rock takes 
i n t o account some of the v a r i a t i o n s i n meaning which the rock 
undergoes d u r i n g the course of that development. Watts, on the 
other hand, makes no such allowances. His beginning i s a r i g i d 
s e p a r a t i o n of the good and the bad: 

To Stevens, the "meaning" of summer and sun and l i o n s 
and l i a n a s i s s e l f - e v i d e n t ; a l l p o i n t to the only 
a f f i r m a t i o n p o s s i b l e to man, j u s t as angels and trum-
pets and preposterous hymns stand f o r impossible a f -
f i r m a t i o n s . Likewise the opposed recurrent f i g u r e s -
the moon and the North and a t h e o l o g i z i n g Jew - ex-
press Stevens' i n s i g h t i n t o the e v i l side of men.... 

"Counters" l i k e these, one may say, are 'the 
dramatis personae i n the l i t t l e drama that i s the 
subject of Stevens' poetry. I t i s a drama - t h i s em-
bodiment of the r e l a t i o n between the perceived and 
the p e r c e i v e r , between rock and man - that i s n e i t h e r 
comedy nor tragedy.7 2 

To Watts, the rock i s the t r u t h which exposes d e l u s i o n s . " I f 
man l e a r n s only from the sense, that knowledge which cannot be 
shown to come from the sense should no longer be named knowledge. 
I t i s i n no v a l i d r e l a t i o n with the 'rock of summer I . . . " 7 3 

I t i s easy to dispose of Watts' e l e c t i o n of the rock as 
the b a s i s by which i t i s p o s s i b l e to judge the v a l i d i t y of a l l 
other r e c u r r e n t images. Indeed, h i s view disposes of i t s e l f : 

At times i t seems that Stevens a l s o comes dangerously , 
c l o s e to the "whole" which he r e j e c t e d because of h i s 

• esteem f o r "parts". 7 ^ 

In other words, Watts has discovered h i s d e f i n i t i v e meaning and 
he r e j e c t s anything i n Stevens that doesn't conform to the ex-
c l u s i o n s of that d e f i n i t i o n . His a t t i t u d e resembles that of 
Belshazzar - another k i n d of rock - i n "Country Words"; 

I sang a canto i n a. canton, 



167 

Gunning-coo, 0, cuckoo cock, 
In a canton of Belshazzar 
To Belshazzar, putrid, rock, 
P i l l a r of a p u t r i d people, 
Underneath a w i l l o w there 
I stood and sang and f i l l e d the a i r . 
I t was an o l d r e b e l l i o u s song, 
An edge of song that never c l e a r s ; 
But i f i t d i d . . . I f the cloud that hangs 
Upon the heart and round the mind 
Cleared from the north and i n that height 
The sun appeared and reddened great 
Belshazzar's brow, 0, r u l e r , rude 
With rubies then, attend me now. 

What i s i t that my f e e l i n g seeks? 
I know from a l l the things i t touched 
And l e f t beside and l e f t behind. 
I t wants the diamond p i v o t b r i g h t . 
I t wants Belshazzar reading r i g h t 
The luminous pages on h i s knee, 
Of being, more than b i r t h or death. 
I t wants words v i r i l e with h i s breath. 

Belshazzar, the temporal r u l e r , the rock of r e a l i t y , who refuses 
t o see the "luminous pages on h i s knee" which are the words of 
r e v e l a t i o n , made h i s c i t y the kingdom of earth r a t h e r than the 
c i t y of God. "MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN...."75 In i t s e l f , the 
rock i s as f a l s e as angels and t h e i r trumpets are. Watt's em-
phasis on the rock as t r u t h would make of Stevens' world, as 
Stevens knew i t would, a "Gubbinal" (CP 8 5 ) ; gubbinal means of 
i r o n rock.-

M i l l s , however, has avoided reducing the rock to i t s gub-
b i n a l aspects. But even he confuses the image with the idea of 
r e a l i t y : " R e a l i t y , or the p h y s i c a l f a c t u a l world, i s a c l o s e d 
system i n Stevens' cosmology, conditioned by 'Generations of 
the imagination' and bounded by seasonal periods whose importance 
i n the poetry we have already mentioned."76 In consequence, h i s 
f i n a l comment on the rock's s i g n i f i c a n c e must be accepted with 
c a u t i o n : 



168 

In "The Poem That Took the Place of a Mountain" the 
rock appears as the f i n a l r e s t i n g p l a c e , where the 
poet merges i n t o h i s work and d i s c o v e r s there a sub-
s t i t u t e f o r the i m m o r t a l i t y of the soul and the r e -
s u r r e c t i o n of the person. Art i s the v e s s e l of the 
p u r i f i e d , t r a n s f i g u r e d e s s e n t i a l s e l f . Since the 
rock belongs to time, death merely replaces one 
r e l a t i o n s h i p with the earth f o r another, more i n -
e x p l i c a b l e . 77 

The rock i n "The Poem That Took the Place of a Mountain" (CP 512) 
bears only a f a i n t resemblance to the rock of r e a l i t y ; i t has 
been f u l l y transmuted ("He breathed i t s oxygen"). I f M i l l s 
meant by a c l o s e d system what Bergson meant, then Stevens' 
r e a l i t y i s not c l o s e d , but open. I t i s , i n f a c t , dynamic. 

Nonetheless, M i l l s ' study of the rock does i n d i c a t e the 
proper c r i t i c a l d i s p o s i t i o n of the a c t u a l " d i s p o s i t i o n of the 
p a r t s " i n Stevens' Book. I t s only f a u l t i s that i t i s pre-
mature i n i t s i d e n t i f i c a t i o n of the image of the rock as the 
c e n t r a l image and " f i n a l c h a r a c t e r " of Stevens' poems. 

There i s no s i n g l e c e n t r a l image. There i s j u s t the c e n t r a l 
movement of the mind coming to terms w i t h the absolute. Every 
image x-rhich becomes e x i s t e n t i s c e n t r a l to that movement. Every 
image, whether of rock or a i r , i s drawn up and r e s u r r e c t e d by 
the sweep of the o s c i l l a t i o n s of the absolute. Every image, 
whether of myth or of r e a l i t y , i n the Mallarmean Stevensian 
Book e x i s t s : 

The Theater c a l l s not f o r s e v e r a l , e s t a b l i s h e d , 
e t e r n a l , or well-known Myths, but f o r one Myth f r e e 
of i n d i v i d u a l i t y , since i t must embrace the many 
aspects of human l i f e . A r t , with a magic b e f i t t i n g 
the n a t i o n a l s p i r i t , must evoke these aspects and 
m i r r o r them a l l i n us. The hero must have no name, 
f o r there must be a s u r p r i s e . His gesture x<rill 
c o n t a i n , xsrithin i t s e l f , our dreams of p r i v i l e g e d 
places and of paradise - dreams which were engulfed 
by the old-time drama, w i t h i t s f o o l i s h d e s i r e to 
c o n t a i n or represent them on the stage! I t i s he 



169 

that e x i s t s , not any p a r t i c u l a r stage! ...Does a 
gesture of our s o u l , do symbols i n p r e p a r a t i o n or 
i n blossom need any place f o r t h e i r development, 
other than i n the f i c t i t i o u s stage of v i s i o n which 
f l a s h e s i n the glance of the audience? Myth i s the 
Saint of S a i n t s , but I t must l i v e i n our imaginations. 
In a miraculous, supreme f l a s h of l i g h t n i n g g i v i n g 
b i r t h to that Figure which i s No One, I t embraces 
each a c t i n g pose f i t t e d by the Figure to the symphonic 
rhythm. And thus I t i s set free!To 

Myth i s an audience a t t e n t i v e to that symphonic music. 



170 

Coneluslon 
And I saw a strong angel proclaiming w i t h a loud 
v o i c e , who i s worthy to open the hook, and to loose 
the s e a l s thereof? 

R e v e l a t i o n 512 
I saw a c r i t i c once who was p o t e n t i a l l y worthy of completely 

opening Stevens' C o l l e c t e d Poems. He was an e x t r a t e r r e s t r i a l i n 
Walter T e v i s ' The Man Who F e l l To E a r t h , and he sat reading the 
Book on a plane to Chicago. "The book was The C o l l e c t e d P o e t r y ( s i c ) 
of Wallace Stevens. Newton's face was p l a c i d ; he seemed ab-
sorbed. "1 His name (a pseudonym) i s appropriates George MCFadden 
once s a i d that "A Wallace Stevens needs a Newton of h i s own."2 

He was a being capable of h o l d i n g a l l the d e t a i l s of h i s g i g a n t i c 
spaceship i n h i s mind while hundreds were at work a b u i l d i n g i t . 

In the end, Newton became an a l c o h o l i c . 
This i s why t h i s t h e s i s has no c o n c l u s i o n , but ends, l i k e 

Graves'- C o l l e c t e d Poems, on a comma. There i s so much l e f t to 
be s a i d about Stevens' poems that any other ending would be 
h y p o c r i s y . Stevens' p r a c t i c e of a l l u d i n g to the work of other 
poets f o r example, as an aspect of that " p e r f e c t symmetry of 
v e r s e s " i n the Book that w i l l extend "beyond the volume i t s e l f " 
has been i n d i c a t e d , but not s t u d i e d . In f a c t , most of the points 
made i n t h i s t h e s i s have been i n d i c a t i o n s r a t h e r than extended 
s t u d i e s . 

I f a c o n c l u s i o n to the thesis' i s impossible, however, a con-
c l u s i o n about the aim and a s p i r a t i o n of t h i s unconcluded t h e s i s 
i s not. The problem was to f i n d a conceptual framework, adequate 
t o Stevens' "image world" " i n which nothing s o l i d i s i t s s o l i d 
s e l f , " a framework which would, or could, free the c r i t i c from 
incessant beginnings and acrimonious argument. This t h e s i s , 



171 

I t s e l f , i s not free from those beginnings and that kind of 
argument, and that i s i t s burden. But i f i t has proved that 
the conceptual framework i m p l i e d by the phrase ' o s c i l l a t i o n s 
of the absolute' i s what Stevens' c r i t i c s so badly need, a 
concept u n i v e r s a l l y acceptable because true and workable i n 
r e l a t i o n to the poems, then i t s burden i s not i t s g u i l t , but 
only i t s martyrdom. 



172 

FOOTNOTES 
PRELIMINARY 
1. Graham Hough, "The Poetry of Wallace Stevens," C r i t i c a l  
Q u a r t e r l y , I I , i 9 6 0 , p. 2 0 7 . 
2 . Yvor Winters, "The Hedonist's Progress," In Defense of  
Reason, New York, 1 9 4 7 , p. 4 4 4 . Cf. The C o l l e c t e d Poems of  
Wallace Stevens, New York, 1955» P« 103• H e r e a f t e r , references 
to t h i s volume w i l l he c i t e d thus i n the t e x t - (CP 1 0 3 ) . 
References to Stevens* Opus Posthumous, ed. Samuel French Morse, 
New York, 1957» w i l l be c i t e d i n the t e x t by the a b b r e v i a t i o n 
OP followed by the page number. Stevens' The Necessary Angel..., 
New York, 1951> w i l l be c i t e d by the a b b r e v i a t i o n NA followed 
by the page number. 
3 . S.T. C o l e r i d g e , Biographia L i t e r a r i a , ed. J . Shawcross, 
London, 1 9 5 8 , ( 1 9 0 ? ) , I , p. 4 . Bowyer was Coleridge's Head 
Master. 
4 . See C o l e r i d g e , B i o g r a p h i a , I , p. 202 f o r a d e f i n i t i o n of 
terms. 
5 . W i l l i a m Rose Ben6t, , Saturday Review of L i t e r a t u r e , 
XV, Jan. 16 1 9 3 7 , p. 18. 
6 . Frank Kermode, Wallace Stevens, London and Edinburgh, i 9 6 0 , 
PP. 3 8 - 3 9 . 

7 . Christmas Humphreys, Buddhism, London, 1 9 5 2 , pp. 1 3 5 - 3 6 . 
8 . Winters, p. 6 . 
9 . W i l l i a m Van O'Connor, The Shaping S p i r i t : A Study of Wallace  
Stevens, Chicago, 1 9 5 0 , pp. 1 2 9 - 3 0 . 
1 0 . W i l l i a m York T i n d a l l , Wallace Stevens, Minneapolis, 1 9 6 1 , 
p. 1 7 . 
1 1 . Thomas Vance, "Wallace Stevens and T.S. E l i o t , " Dartmouth  
College L i b r a r y B u l l e t i n , December 1 9 6 1 , pp. 3 7 - 3 8 . 
1 2 . John Holmes, "Five American Poets," V i r g i n i a Quarterly Review, 
X I I , A p r i l 1 9 3 6 , p. 2 9 4 . 
1 3 . Winters, p. 6 . 
14. Paul V a l e r y , The A r t of Poetry, t r a n s . Denise F o l l i o t , New 
York, 1 9 6 l , p. 8 5 . 
1 5 . Richard Watson, Between the " I " and the " I t " i n Wallace 
Stevens' "Harmonium", (unpublished), U.B.C., 1 9 5 8 , p.32 
1 6 . W i l l i a m York T i n d a l l , p. 18. 



173 

1 7 . Richard Watson, p. 1. 
18. Frank Doggett, "Wallace Stevens and the World We Know," 
E n g l i s h J o u r n a l , X L V I I I , 1 9 5 9 , p. 3 6 8 . 
1 9 . See Lewis Richard F a r n e l l , The C u l t s of the Greek S t a t e s , 
Oxford, 1 8 9 6 , I I , pp. 4 2 5 - 4 4 9 but e s p e c i a l l y p. 4 3 6 . 
2 0 . Howard Baker, "Wallace Stevens and Other Poets," The  
Achievement of Wallace Stevens, eds. Ashley Brown and Robert 
S. H a l l e r , P h i l a d e l p h i a , 1 9 6 2 , p. 82 
2 1 . W.K. Wimsatt, J r . , The Verbal Icon, New York, 1 9 5 4 , p. 14. 
2 2 . Thomas F. Walsh, Concordance to the Poetry of Wallace  
Stevens, Pennsylvania, ±963. 
2 3 . George Santayana, I n t e r p r e t a t i o n s of Poetry and R e l i g i o n , 
New York, 1 9 5 7 , p. 2 8 7 . 
24. Thomas C a r l y l e , Sartor Resartus, London and Glasgow, C o l l i n s ' 
C l e a r Type Press, no date, pp. 184-85 
PART I 
1 . John C i a r d i , "Wallace Stevens' "Absolute Music", -Nation, 
CLXXIX, Oct. 16 1 9 5 4 , p. 346. 
2 . W i l l i a m C a r l o s W i l l i a m s , Kora i n H e l l , Boston, 1 9 2 0 , p. 1 7 . 
3 . I b i d . , p. 1 6 . 
4 . W i l l i a m C a r l o s W i l l i a m s , , New Republic, X C I I I , 
Nov. 17 1 9 3 7 , P. 5 0 . 
5 . W i l l i a m Carlos W i l l i a m s , The Autobiography of W i l l i a m  
C a r l o s W i l l i a m s , New York, 1 9 5 1 , P« x i i . 
6 . W i l l i a m Carlos W i l l i a m s , "Poet of a Steadfast P a t t e r n , " 
NYTBR, Aug. 18 1 9 5 7 , P. 6 . 
7 . L i o n e l A b e l , "In the Sacred Park," P a r t i s a n Review, XXV, 
1 9 5 8 , p. 8 8 . 
8 . Robert B u t t e l l , "Wallace Stevens at Harvard: Some Origins 
of His Theme and S t y l e , " ELH, 2 9 : 1 , March 1 9 6 2, pp. 9 0 - 9 1 . 
9 . Paul V a l e r y , pp. 2 1 9 - 2 2 0 . 
1 0 . Ardyth Bradley, "Wallace Stevens' Decorations," TCL, 7 : 3 , 
Oct. 1 9 6 1 , p. 114. 
1 1 . Louis Untermeyer, "Five American Poets," Yale Review, XIV, 
Oct. 1 9 2 4 , p. 1 6 0 . 



174 
12. Wylie Sypher, "Connoisseur In Chaos: Wallace Stevens," 
Partisan Review, XIII, 1 9 4 6 , p. 94 

13. Ashley Brown and Robert S. H a l l e r , "Introduction," The, 
Achievement of Wallace Stevens, p. 16. 

14.. See respectively, Roy Harvey Pearce, "Stevens Posthumous," 
International L i t e r a r y Annual, I I , (London 1959)» p. 69 -
James Baird, "Transvaluation i n the Poetics of Wallace Stevens, 
Studies i n Honour of John C. Hodges and Alwln Thaler (Tennessee 
Studies i n L i t e r a t u r e , Special Number), Knoxville, 1 9 6 1 , 166-61? 
George McFadden, "Poet, Nature and Society i n Wallace Stevens," 
MLQ, XXIII, Sept. 1962, p. 269 - Joseph N. Riddel, "Wallace 
Stevens' "Notes Toxiard a Supreme F i c t i o n " , " Wisconsin Studies  
i n Contemporary Literature, I I , i i , p. 24 - Steve Feldman, 
"Reality and the Imagination: The Poetic of Wallace Stevens' 
"The Necessary Angel",", University of Kansas City Review, XXI, 
1 9 5 4 , p. 43 - and Emilie Buchwald, "Wallace Stevens: The 
Delicatest Eye of the Mind," American Quarterly, XIV, Summer 
1 9 6 2 , p. 1 9 2 . 

15. Anthony Hecht, "Poets and Peasants," Hudson Review, X, 
Winter 1957-58, p. 6 0 7 . 
16. As quoted by Frank Kermode i n Wallace Stevens, p. 18 

17. Northrop Frye, "The R e a l i s t i c Oriole: A Study of Wallace 
Stevens," Wallace Stevens: A C o l l e c t i o n of C r i t i c a l Essays, ed. 
Marie Borrdff,Englewood C l i f f s , 1 9 6 3 , p. I 6 3 . 

18. Ibid., p. 164 

19. Ibid., p. I63. 

2 0 . William Van O'Connor, p. 1 2 0 . 

2 1 . Richard Watson, p. 53• 
2 2 • Ibid., pp. 51-52» 
23. See Joseph N. Riddel, "Wallace Stevens' " V i s i b i l i t y of 
Thought"," PMLA, LXXVII, Number 4 , Part I, Sept. 1962, p. 493 
f o r a description of the changes i n the ordering of the section 
and t h e i r s i g n i f i c a n c e . 

24. I.A. Richards, "Poetry and B e l i e f s , " Critiques and Essays  
i n C r i t i c i s m , 1920 - 1 9 4 8 , New York, 1 9 4 9 , p. 331. 

25. See OP x y i for Morse's account of the genealogy of the poem 

26. S i s t e r M. Bernetta Quinn, "Metamorphosis i n Wallace Stevens 
Wallace Stevens: A C o l l e c t i o n of C r i t i c a l Essays, p. 68. 

27. As quoted by Michel Benamou, "Wallace Stevens and the 
Symbolist Imagination," ELH, 31*1, March 1 9 6 4 , p. 60. 



1 7 5 

28. Ralph Nash, "Wallace Stevens and the Point of Change," 
P e r s p e c t i v e , V I I , Autumn 1 9 5 4 , p. 1 2 1 . 
2 9 . Mary Colum, , NYTBR, Nov. 2 9 1 9 4 2 , p. 1 2 . 

3 0 . Llewelyn Powys, "The T h i r t e e n t h Way," The Achievement of  
Wallace Stevens, p. 3 1 » 
3 1 . Stanley Burnshaw,- "Turmoil i n the Middle Ground," New  
Masses, Oct. 1 9 3 5 » PP« 41 - 4 3 . Mr. Burnshaw's l a t e r e x p l a n a t i o n 
of h i s p o s i t i o n i n "Wallace Stevens and the Statue," Sewanee  
Review, LXIX, pp. 3 5 5 - 6 6 , i s a moving account, t o be valued 
i f not f o r i t s e x p l i c a t i o n of Stevens, at l e a s t f o r the ex-
p l a n a t i o n i t a f f o r d s of the e a r l i e r Burnshaw. 
3 2 . Michel Benamou, "Jules Laforgue and Wallace Stevens," 
Romanic Review, L, 1 9 5 9 , P. 1 1 5 « 
3 3 « Lloyd Frankenburg, "Wallace Stevens," Plea.sure Dome, 
Cambridge (Mass.),'1 9 4 9 , p. 2 2 0 . 
3 4 . George Santayana, The Sense of Beauty? Being an Outline of  
A e s t h e t i c Theory, New York, 1 9 5 5 , p. 2 3 9 . 
3 5 . A r c h i b l a d MacLeish, C o l l e c t e d Poems? 1 9 1 7 - 1 9 5 2 , Boston, 
1 9 5 2 , p. 82. 
3 6 . Northrop Frye, "The R e a l i s t i c O r i o l e . . . " , p. 1 6 3 . 
3 7 . V i r g i l , The Aeneid, t r a n s . Rolfe Humphries, New York, 1 9 5 1 , 
(Bk. I V ) , p. 9 9 . 
3 8 . V i r g i l , (Bk. V I ) , pp. 1 6 8 - 6 9 

39. Robert Graves, The Greek Myths, B a l t i m o r e , 1 9 5 5 , I , P. 3 4 7 . 
40. I b i d . , I , p. 340. 
41. Michel Benamou, "Jules Laforgue and Wallace Stevens," p. 114. 
4 2 . George McFadden, "Probings f o r an I n t e g r a t i o n ; Color 
Symbolism i n Wallace Stevens," MP, L V I I I : 3 , Feb. 1 9 6 1 , p. 1 9 0 . 
4 3 . W i l l i a m T y l e r O l c o t t , Star Lore of A l l Ages, New York and 
London, 1 9 3 1 > P. 2 6 9 . 
4 4 . For v i s u a l demonstration see the s t a r charts i n Barton and 
Barton, A Guide to the C o n s t e l l a t i o n s f o r the Months March to  
October, New York, 1 9 2 8 . 
4 5 . O l c o t t , p. 2 1 6 . 

46. I b i d . , pp. 2 6 8 - 6 9 . 



176 

47. Joseph N. R i d d e l , The Never-Ending M e d i t a t i o n ; A Study of  
Myth, Metaphor, and the Poetry of Order i n the Works of  
Wallace Stevens, U n i v e r s i t y of Wisconsin, I 9 6 0 , p. 1 7 7 ' 
48. Rev. Charles Whyte, The C o n s t e l l a t i o n s and Their H i s t o r y , 
London, 1928, p. 2 5 8 . 
49. Northrop Frye, "The R e a l i s t i c O r i o l e , " pp. 1 6 9 - 7 0 . 
5 0 . Joseph N. R i d d e l , "Stevens' " V i s i b i l i t y of Thought"," p. 497. 
5 1 . E..M. F o r s t e r , Passage to I n d i a , London, i 9 6 0 , p. 84 
5 2 . Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, The Dance of Shiva, New York, 1 9 5 7 , 
P. 43. 
5 3 . Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, C h r i s t i a n and O r i e n t a l Philosophy  
of A r t , New York, 1 9 5 6 , p. 5 2 . 
54. I b i d . , pp. 52-53. 
55. Joseph N. R i d d e l , "Stevens' " V i s i b i l i t y of Thought."," p. 484. 
5 6 . Seng Ts'an, "On B e l i e v i n g i n Mind," Buddhist S c r i p t u r e s , 
t r a n s . Edward Conze, Harmondsworth, 1 9 5 9 , Pp. 171-73• 
57. C. Roland Wagner, "A C e n t r a l Poetry," Wallace Stevens: A 
C o l l e c t i o n of C r i t i c a l Essays, Englewood C l i f f s , 1 9 6 3 , p. 73 
i n p a r t i c u l a r . 
58. J.A. Stewart, The Myths of P l a t o , New York, 1 9 0 5 , p. 7 2 . 
5 9 . I b i d . , p. 35-
6 0 . I b i d . , pp. 40-41. 
6 1 . George Santayana, Scepticism and Animal F a i t h : I n t r o d u c t i o n  
t o a System of Philosophy, U.S.A., 1 9 5 5 , P« 1 0 7 i n p a r t i c u l a r . 
6 2 . Lloyd Frankenburg, Pleasure Dome, p. 1 9 9 . 
6 3 . W i l l i a m York T i n d a l l , Wallace Stevens, p. 1 7 . 
64. Ramon G u t h r i e , "Stevens' "Lions i n Sweden"," E x p l , XX, Dec.6l, 
Item 3 2 . 
6 5 . Robert Pack, Wallace Stevens: An Approach to h i s Poetry and  
Thought, New Brunswick (N.J.)., 1 9 5 8 , pp. 1 0 5 - 0 7 . ' 
66. S.T. C o l e r i d g e , Biographia L i t e r a r i a , I I , p. 208. 
6 7 . I b i d . , I , p. 2 0 2 . 
68. See Shawcross' "Introduction,'-' Biographia L i t e r a r i a , I , l x v i i -
l x v i i l . 



17? 

6 9 . George Santayana., Scepticism and Animal Faith, p. 3 0 0 . 

7 0 . Immanuel Kant, The Philosophy of Kant, ed. Carl J . F r i e d r l c h , 
New York, 1 9 4 9 , pp. 105-06. 

7 1 . Ibid., p. 1 0 9 . 
7 2 . Ibid., p. 108. 

7 3 . Ernst Cassirer, The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, trans. 
Ralph Mahheim, New Haven, 1955, Vol. I ("Language"), p. 1 0 5 . 

7 4 . Ibid.. p. 1 0 5 . 

7 5 . Ibid., pp. 108-114. 

7 6 . Northrop Frye, "The R e a l i s t i c Oriole," p. 1 7 5 . 

7 7 . Northrop Frye, Anatomy of C r i t i c i s m ; Four Essays, Princeton, 
1 9 5 7 , P. 119. 
7 8 . Paul V a l e r y , p. 1 9 2 . 

79* Lloyd Frankenburg, Pleasure Dome, p. 2 6 2 . 

PART II 

1 . Joseph N. Riddel, "The Never-Ending Meditation...," p. 9 6 . 

2 . Hi Simons, "Wallace Stevens and Mallarme," MP, XLIII, 1946, 
p. 244. 

3 . Morton Dauwen Zabel, "Wallace Stevens and the Image of Man," 
Wallace Stevens; A C o l l e c t i o n of C r i t i c a l Essays, pp. 152-53* 
4 . Ibid., p. 1 5 3 . 

5« William Van O'Connor quotes an amusing poem by Amy Lowell 
on t h i s subject i n The Shaping S p i r i t , pp. 9- 1 0 . 

6 . Joseph N. Riddel, "The Never-Ending Meditation...," p. 5 1 . 

7. Ibid., p. 140. 
8 . .Frank Kermode, Wallace Stevens, p. 2 5 . 

9. Stephane Mallarme, Mallarme; Selected Prose Poems, Essays &  
Letters, trans. Bradford Cook, Baltimore, 1 9 5 6 , p. 15* 

1 0 . Steve Feldman, "Reality and the Imagination," p. 4 3 . 

1 1 . William York T i n d a l l , Wallace Stevens, pp. 1 7 - 1 8 . 

1 2 . Mildred E. Hartsock, "Image and Idea i n the Poetry of Stevens," 
TCL, V i l l i , A p r i l 1 9 6 l , pp. 10-14. 



178 

1 3 . , James B a i r d , "Transvaluation i n the P o e t i c s of Wallace 
Stevens," p. 1 6 6 . 
14. Op. c l t . . p. 1 2 . 
15.. W i l l i a m Van O'Connor, The Shaping S p i r i t , p. 3 1 . 
1 6 . Robert Pack, "Wallace Stevens: An Approach to His Thought," 
p. 14. 
1 7 . James B a i r d , "Transvaluation i n the P o e t i c s of Wallace . 
Stevens," pp. 1 7 1 - 7 2 . 

18. Harold Watts, "Wallace Stevens and the Rock of Summer," 
Kenyon Review, XIV, 195.2, pp. 122-40. 
1 9 . , Stephane Mallarme, Mallarme: Selected Prose, p. 2 1 . 
2 0 . Frank Doggett, "Wallace Stevens' Later Poetry,." ELH, XXV, 
June 1 9 5 8 , p.. 1 5 3 . 
2 1 . 3.T. C o l e r i d g e , The Table Talk and Omniana, ed. T. Ashe, 
London, 1 8 8 4 , p. 64n. 
2 2 . " S.T. C o l e r i d g e , The C o l l e c t e d L e t t e r s of Samuel Taylor  
C o l e r i d g e , ed. E a r l L e s l i e Griggs, Oxford, 1 9 5 9 , V o l . IV, p. 1 0 3 3 -
2 3 . Michel Benamou, "Wallace Stevens and the Symbolist 
Imagination," p. 4 5 . 
2 4 . I b i d . , p.. 5 2 . 
2 5 . J . H i l l i s M i l l e r , "Wallace Stevens' Poetry of Being," ELH, 
3 1 : 1 , March 1 9 6 4 , p. 9 3 -
26. I b i d . , p. 94. 
2?.. I b i d . , pp. 9 8 , 1 0 0 . 
28. C. Roland Wagner, "The Idea of Nothingness i n Wallace 
Stevens," Accent, X I I , Spring 1 9 5 2 , p. 1 1 1 . 
2 9 . I b i d . , p. 1 1 2 . 
30.. Michel Benamou, "Wallace Stevens and the Symbolist 
Imagination," p. 5 3 • 
3 1 . E m i l i e Buchwald, "Wallace Stevens: The D e l i c a t e s t Eye of 
the Mind," p. 1 8 6 . 
3 2 . For an example, see S i s t e r Quinn's "Metamorphosis i n 
Wallace Stevens," p. 6 5 . 
33«, Roy Harvey Pearce, "Stevens Posthumous," p. 8 9 . 



179 

3 4 . Roy Harvey Pearce, "Stevens Posthumous," p. 8 9 . 
3 5 . Michel Benamou, "Wallace Stevens and the Symbolist 
Imagination," p. 6 0 . 
3 6 . Robert Pack, Wallace Stevens; An Approach..., p. 17^. 
3 7 . S i s t e r M. Bernetta Quinn, "Metamorphosis i n Wallace 
Stevens," p. 5 8 . 
3 8 . I b i d . , p. 6 3 . 
3 9 . A l b e r t Camus, The' Rebel; An Essay on Man i n R e v o l t , t r a n s . 
Anthony Bower, New York, 1 9 6 2 , p. 269." 
40. Michel Benamou, "Wallace Stevens and the Symbolist 
Imagination," p. 6 l . 
41. I b i d ; 1 , :p;. , 6 0 . 
42. Jean-Paul' S a r t r e , The Transcendence of the Ego; An  
E x i s t e n t i a l i s t Theory of Consciousness, t r a n s . F o r r e s t Williams 
and Robert K i r k p a t r i c k , New York, 1 9 5 7 , p.100 
4 3 . S.T. C o l e r i d g e , Biographia L i t e r a r i a , I , p. 1 8 4 . 
4 4 . James Joyce, P o r t r a i t of the A r t i s t as a Young Man, 
Harmondsworth, i 9 6 0 , pp. 214- 1 5 . 
4 5 . See James Balrd's "Transvaluation i n the P o e t i c s of Wallace 
Stevens.." This i s probably a v e r s i o n of the paper Pearce 
a l l u d e s t'o. 
46. I b i d . , p. 4 0 5 . 
4 7 . I b i d . , p. 4 0 8 . 
48. Michel Benamou, "Wallace Stevens and the Symbolist 
Imagination," p. 5 2 . 
49. J.A. Stewart, The Myths of P l a t o , London, 1 9 0 5 , pp. 3 5 0 - 3 8 1 . 

5 0 . I b i d . , p. 3 7 9 . 
5 1 . See p a r t i c u l a r l y Merle E. Brown, "Concordia Discors i n the 
Poetry of Wallace Stevens," AL, 3 ^ ; 2 , May 1962, pp. 246- 2 6 9 . 
5 2 . Michel Benamou, "Wallace Stevens and the Symbolist 
Imagination," pp. 5 2 - 5 3• The l e t t e r quoted i s addressed t o 
Henry Church. 
53.' C o l e r i d g e , Biographia . L i t e r a r i a , I I , p. 5 8 . 
5 4 . Bernard Heringman, "The Poetry of Synthesis," P e r s p e c t i v e , 
VI 1 , Autumn 195^, p. 1 6 ? . 



180 

55• Michel Benamou, "Wallace Stevens: Some R e l a t i o n s Between 
Poetry and P a i n t i n g , " Comparative L i t e r a t u r e , X I , 1959» p. 5 2 . 
5 6 . Donald Davie, "The Auroras of Autumn," P e r s p e c t i v e , V I I , 
autumn 1 9 5 4 , p. 1 6 7 . 
5 7 . Joseph N. R i d d e l , "Stevens' " V i s i b i l i t y of Thought"," p. 4 8 5 . 
5 8 . Peloubet's B i b l e D i c t i o n a r y , P h i l a d e l p h i a , 1 9 4 7 , p. 6 0 6 . 
59« E.M. F o r s t e r , Passage to I n d i a , p. 1 8 6 . 
6 0 . Ardyth Bradley, "Wallace Stevens' Decorations," pp. 114- 1 5 . 
6 1 . Michel Benamou, "Wallace Stevens and the Symbolist 
Imagination," p. 57* 
6 2 . W i l l i a m Wordsworth, The Prelude, V, 11. 5 8 - 7 6 . 

6 3 . I b i d . , 1 1 . 1 0 6 - 0 9 . 

6 4 . I b i d . , 1 1 . 9 6 - 9 9 
6 5 . W i l l i a m T y l e r O l c o t t , Star Lore of A l l Ages, pp. 3 5 6 - 5 7 . 
6 6 . I b i d . , pp. 2 3 1 , 2 3 2 . 
67.. Marie B o r r o f f , " I n t r o d u c t i o n : Wallace Stevens: The World 
and The Poet," Wallace Stevens: A C o l l e c t i o n of C r i t i c a l Essays, 
P.- 1 5 . 

6 8 . W i l l i a m Wordsworth, The Prelude, V, 1 1 . 2 3 0 - 3 1 . 
6 9 . I b i d . , 1 1 . 2 1 3 - 2 2 3 . 

7 0 ; Michel Benamou, "Beyond Emerald or Amethyst: Wallace Stevens 
and the French T r a d i t i o n , " Dartmouth College L i b r a r y B u l l e t i n , 
December 1 9 6 l , p. 6 l . 
7 1 . Ralph J . M i l l s , J r . , "Wallace Stevens: The Image of the 
Rock," Accent, X V I I I , 1 9 5 8 , pp. 7 5 - 7 9 . 
7 2 ; Harold W a t t s " W a l l a c e Stevens and the Rock of Summer," 
pp. 1 2 3 , 124. 

7 3 - I b i d . , p. 1 2 5 . 
7 4 ; I b i d . , .p. 1 3 4 . 
7 5 . D a n i e l , 5 * 2 5 . 
7 6 ; Ralph J . M i l l s , J r . , "Wallace Stevens:-The•Image of the Rock," 
p. 8 4 . 
7 7 . I b i d . , p. 8 8 . 



181 

7 8 . Stephane Mallarme, Mallarme"; Selected Prose, p. 7 7 . 
CONCLUSION 
1. Walter T e v i s , The Man Who F e l l to Earth , Greenwich, 1963? 
p. 9 0 . 
2 . George McFadden, "Probings f o r an I n t e g r a t i o n . . . , " p. 1 8 6 . 



182 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

I WALLACE STEVENS 

Stevens, Wallace. Opus Posthumous. Ed. Samuel French Morse, 
New York, 1 9 5 7 . 

. The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens, New 
York, 1955 <Tl953T 

. The Necessary Angels Essays on Reality and 
the Imagination. New York, 1951* 

II BOOKS AND ARTICLES ON WALLACE STEVENS 

Abel, Lionel.."In the Sacred Park," Partisan Review, XXV (1958) 
pp. 86-98. 

Baird, James. "Transvaluation i n the Poetic of Wallace Stevens," 
Studies i n Honour of John C. Hodges and Alwln Thaler  
(Tennessee Studies i n L i t e r a t u r e , Special Number), Knoxville 
(1961) pp. 163-73. 

Baker, Howard. "Wallace Stevens and Other Poets," The Achievement  
of Wallace Stevens. Eds. Ashley Brown and Robert S. Haller, 
Philadelphia, 1962, pp. 81-96. 

Benamou, Michel. "Beyond Emerald or Amethysts Wallace Stevens 
and The French Tradition,".Dartmouth College Library  
B u l l e t i n (December 1 9 6 l ) pp. 60- 6 6 . 

. "Jules Laforgue and Wallace Stevens," Romanic  
Review, L~ T l 9 5 9 ) PP. 1 0 7 - 1 7 . 

. "Wallace Stevens and the Symbolist Imagination," 
ELH, 3 1 s l T M a r c h 1964) pp. 35 - 6 3 . 

. "Wallace Stevenss Some Relations Between Poetry 
and Painting," Comparative Literature , XI (1959) pp. 47 - 6 0 . 

Bene^t, William Rose. "Review of "Owl's Clover"," Saturday Review  
of L i t e r a t u r e . XV (Jan. 16 1937) p. 18. 

Borroff, Marie. "Introductions Wallace Stevenss The World and 
the Poet," Wallace Stevenss A C o l l e c t i o n of C r i t i c a l Essays. 
Ed. Marie Borroff, Englewood C l i f f s , 1 9 6 3 , pp. 1 - 2 3 . 

Bradley, Ardyth. "Wallace Stevens' Decorations," TCL, 7:3 (Oct. 
1961) pp. 114-1?. 

Brown, Ashley and H a l l e r , Robert S. "Introduction," The 
Achievement of Wallace Stevens. Philadelphia, 1962, pp. 9-17. 

Brown, Merle E. "Concordia Discors i n the Poetry of Wallace 
Stevens," AL, 34$2 (May 1 9 6 2 ) pp. 246 - 6 9 . 



183 

Buchwald-, Emilie. "Wallace Stevens: The Dellcatest Eye of the 
Mind," American Quarterly, XIV (Summer 1962) pp. 1 8 5 - 9 6 . 

Burnshaw, Stanley. Review of "Ideas of Order", .New Masses 
(Oct. 1 1 9 3 5 ) PP. 41-43. 

. "Wallace Stevens and the Statue," Sewanee 
Review, LXIX, pp. 3 5 5 - 6 6 . 

B u t t e l l , Robert. "Wallace Stevens at Harvard: Some Origins of 
His Theme and Style," ELH, 2 9 : 1 (March 1962) pp. 9 0 - 1 1 9 . 

C i a r d i , John. "Wallace Stevens' "Absolute Music"," Nation, 
CLXXIX (Oct. 16 1954) pp. 346- 4 7 . 

Colum, Mary. Review of "Parts of a World", NYTBR (Nov. 29 1942) 
p. 1 2 . 

Davie, Donald. ""The Auroras of Autumn"," Perspective, VII, 
(Autumn 1954) pp. 1 2 5 - 3 6 . 

Doggett, Prank. "Wallace Stevens and the World We Know," 
. English Journal. XLVIII (1959) pp. 3 6 5 - 7 3 . 

• "Wallace Stevens' Later Poetry," ELH, XXV (June 
1958) pp. 1 3 7 - 5 4 . 

Feldman, Steve. "Reality and the Imagination: The Poetic of 
Wallace Stevens' Necessary Angel," University of Kansas  
City Review, XXI (1954) pp. 3 5 - 4 3 . 

Frankenburg, Lloyd. "Wallace Stevens," Pleasure Dome. Cambridge 
(Mass.), 1 9 4 9 , pp. 1 9 7 - 2 6 7 . 

Frye, Northrop. '"The R e a l i s t i c Oriole: A Study of Wallace 
Stevens," Wallace Stevens: A C o l l e c t i o n of Essays. Ed. Marie 
Borroff, Englewood C l i f f s , 1963, pp. 161-176. 

Guthrie, Ramon. "Stevens' "Lions i n Sweden"," Expl, XX (Dec 1961) 
Item 3 2 . 

Hartsock, Mildred E. "Image and Idea i n the Poetry of Stevens," 
TCL, VII : 1 (April 1 9 6 l ) pp. 1 0 - 1 5 . 

Hecht, Anthony. "Poets and Peasants," Hudson Review, X (Winter 
1 9 5 7 - 5 8 ) pp. 6 0 6 - 1 3 . 

Heringman, Bernard. "The Poetry of Synthesis," Perspective, VII 
(Autumn 1954) pp. 1 6 7 - 7 4 . 

Holmes, John. "Five American Poets," V i r g i n i a Quarterly Review, 
XII ( A p r i l 1936) pp. 288- 9 5 . 

Hough, Graham.. "The Poetry of Wallace Stevens'," C r i t i c a l  
Quarterly, II ( i 9 6 0 ) pp. 201-18. ' 



184 

Kermode, Frank. Wallace Stevens. London and Edinburgh, i 9 6 0 , 
(in series Writers and C r i t i c s , Ed. Norman A. J e f f a r e s ) . 

McFadden, George. "Poet, Nature and Society i n Wallace Stevens," 
MLQ, XXIII (Sept. 1962) pp.' 2 6 3 -?l. 

. "Probings for an Integration: Color Symbolism 
i n Wallace Stevens," MP, L V I I I 1 3 (Feb. 1961) pp. 1 8 6 - 9 3 . 

M i l l e r , J . H i l l l s . "Wallace Stevens' Poetry of Being," ELH, 
3.1»1 (March, 1964) pp. 8 6 - 1 0 5 . 

M i l l s , Ralph J. J r . "Wallace Stevens: The Image of the Rock," 
Accent, XVIII ( 1 9 5 8 ) pp. .,75-89. 

Nash, Ralph. "Wallace Stevens and the Point of Change," 
Perspective, VII, (Autumn 195*0 pp. 1 1 3 - 2 1 . 

O'Connor, William Van. The Shaping S p i r i t : A Study of Wallace  
Stevens. Chicago, 1 9 5 0 . 

Pack, Robert. Wallace Stevens: An Approach to his Poetry and  
Thought, New Brunswick (N.J.), 1 9 5 8 . [ ' 

Pearce, Roy Harvey. "Stevens Posthumous," International L i t e r a r y 
Annual, II (London 1959) pp. 6 5 - 8 9 . 

Powys, Llewelyn. "The Thirteenth Way," The Achievement of 
Wallace Stevens. Eds. Ashley Brown and Robert S. H a l l e r , 
Philadelphia, 1 9 6 2 , pp. 2 9 - 3 4 . 

Quinn, S i s t e r M. Bernetta. "Metamorphosis i n Wallace Stevens," 
Wallace Stevens: A C o l l e c t i o n of C r i t i c a l Essays. Ed. Marie 
Borroff, Englewood C l i f f s , 1 9 6 3 , pp. 5 4 - 7 0 . 

Riddel, Joseph N. The Never-Ending Meditation: A Study of Myth, 
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