Peter Schjeldahl on the poet of “The Idea of Order at Key West,” and the book “The Whole Harmonium: The Life of Wallace Stevens,” by Paul Mariani.
The chilly heart of a whimsical poem
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“I still feel the need of some imperishable bliss.” Wallace Stevens Afternoon in Rome @twschaller #art #architecture #light #shadow #watercolor #imagination #bliss
About Wallace Stevens: Collected Poetry & Prose (LOA #96) “Undoubtedly, the single finest collection of Wallace Stevens ever produced.” — Library Journal Wallace Stevens’s unique voice combined meditative speculation and what he called “the essential gaudiness of poetry” in a body of work of astonishing profusion and exuberance, poems that have remained an inspiration and influence for generations of poets and readers. Now, for the first time, the works of America’s supreme poet of the imagination are collected in one authoritative Library of America volume. Here are all of Stevens’s published books of poetry, side-by-side for the first time with the haunting lyrics of his later years and early work that traces the development of his art. From the rococo inventiveness of Harmonium , his first volume (including such classics as “Sunday Morning” and “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird”), through “Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction,” “Esthétique du Mal,” “The Auroras of Autumn,” and the other large-scale masterpieces of his middle years, to the austere final poems of “The Rock,” Stevens’s poetry explores with unrelenting intensity the relation between the world and the human imagination, between nature as found and nature as invented, and the ways poetry mediates between them. The volume presents over ninety poems uncollected by Stevens, including early versions of often-discussed works like “The Comedian as the Letter C” and “Owl’s Clover.” Also here is the most comprehensive selection of Stevens’s prose writings. The Necessary Angel (1951), his distinguished book of essays, joins nearly fifty shorter pieces, many previously uncollected: reviews, speeches, short stories, criticism, philosophical writings, and responses to the work of T. S. Eliot, Marianne Moore, William Carlos Williams, and other poets. The often-dazzling aphorisms Stevens gathered over the years are included, as are his plays and selections from his poetic notebooks. Rounding out the volume is a fifty-year span of journal entries and letters, newly edited from manuscript sources, which provide fascinating glimpses of Stevens’s thoughts on poetry and the creative process. The volume also contains explanatory notes, a detailed chronology of Stevens’ life, and an essay on textual selection. LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.
The Harvard Advocate blog is reaching back into their archives and serving up some early poetical works by Wallace Stevens. To put things in context, they write: Stevens’ first book of...
SuperSummary’s Poem Study Guide for "The Death of a Soldier" by Wallace Stevens provides text-specific content for close reading, engagement, and the development of thought-provoking assignments. Review and plan more easily with poet biography, literary device analysis, essay topics, and more. Note: This rich poem-study resource for teacher and student support does not contain activities, quiz or discussion questions. For ready-to-use classroom materials, please consider one of our poem units, which provide teachers with strategic comprehension and literary device questions, discussion starters, writing prompts, and creative pre-built activities. We also offer a variety of other Unit products (Novel Unit, Play Unit, Short Story Unit). STUDY GUIDE Delve into the easy-to-navigate 18-page guide for "The Death of a Soldier" poem analysis, literary devices, and other sections. Build rich lessons on the poem’s multiple symbols, motifs, and themes such as "The Desensitizing Effect of Chronic Fatality" and "The Desensitizing Effect of Chronic Fatality". Featured content also includes: Comprehensive biography of the poet 3 literary devices 7 curated further reading suggestions & multimedia resources ✏️ How to use: Created to provide a thorough review and to support students’ deep understanding of "The Death of a Soldier", our literature guide quickly refreshes teachers on the poet’s life as well as essential themes, symbols and motifs. The contents of the guide provide a strong framework for helping students understand a poem and place it in context through close reading, examination of literary devices, and outside resources that help students further unpack its meaning and value.
The poetic imagination projects a world, says the poet Wallace Stevens (1879–1955) in a letter from 1940, but it is difficult to make that world
Edward Ragg's study is the first to examine the role of abstraction throughout the work of Wallace Stevens. By tracing the poet's interest in abstraction from Harmonium through to his later works, Ragg argues that Stevens only fully appreciated and refined this interest within his later career. Ragg's detailed close-readings highlight the poet's absorption of late nineteenth century and early twentieth century painting, as well as the examples of philosophers and other poets' work. Wallace Stevens and the Aesthetics of Abstraction will appeal to those studying Stevens as well as anyone interested in the relations between poetry and painting. This valuable study embraces revealing philosophical and artistic perspectives, analyzing Stevens' place within and resistance to Modernist debates concerning literature, painting, representation and 'the imagination'.
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The American poet Wallace Stevens died 50 years ago this year. Commentator Jay Keyser says Stevens wrote the best short poem in the English language, "The Snow Man." Stevens marries what the poem is about with the way that it is built.
Wallace Stevens, (born Oct. 2, 1879, Reading, Pa., U.S.—died Aug. 2, 1955, Hartford, Conn.), American poet whose work explores the interaction of reality and what man can make of reality in his mind. It was not until late in life that Stevens was read at all widely or recognized as a major poet by more than a few. Stevens attended Harvard for three years, worked briefly for the New York Herald Tribune, and then won a degree (1904) at the New York Law School and practiced law in New York City. His first published poems, aside from college verse, appeared
The American poet Wallace Stevens died 50 years ago this year. Commentator Jay Keyser says Stevens wrote the best short poem in the English language, "The Snow Man." Stevens marries what the poem is about with the way that it is built.
