Wallace Stevens

Paper Summary:

The paper reveals that beneath the quiet surface of the ordinary American businessman, Wallace Stevens was one of the greatest American modernist poets of the 20th century. The paper looks at "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird," perhaps his most famous poem. The paper discusses how his choices as a poet reflect the idea that one need not go to Europe to apprehend the evolving great ideas and ideals of the modernist movement. The paper concludes that Stevens made his mark as a uniquely national modernist poet.

From the Paper:

"Yet the poet Wallace Stevens stayed at home. But in his verse this mild-mannered executive at a major insurance firm in Hartford, Connecticut had "a flair" for the "flashiest titles," and turns of phrase in his verse such as "Peter Quince at the Clavier," "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird," and "Le Monocle de Mon Oncle." Thus "Stevens, the aesthete par excellence" pressed "back against the pressure of reality" with a modernist spirit of innovation in his simple yet startling words and images ("Modernism." Poets.org, 2006) But Stevens' first work, rather than the result of engagement with other modernist authors, entitled "Harmonium" emerged as an unusual first book."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Filreis, Alan. "Beyond the rhetorician's touch: Steven's painterly abstractions." Originally published in American Literary History. Spring 1992: pp. 230-63. Accessible 4 Dec 2006 at <http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/Stevens/talcoat-alh.html>
• "Groundbreaking Book: Harmonium by Wallace Stevens." Poets.org. Online publicationof the Academy of American Poets. [4 Dec 2006] <http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5952>
• "Modernism." Poets.org. Online publication of the Academy of American Poets. [4 Dec 2006]<http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5664>
• Stevens, Wallace. The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens. New York: Knopf, 1954
• "Wallace Stevens." Poets.org. Online publication of the Academy of American Poets. [4 Dec 2006]<http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/124>

More papers on Wallace Stevens:

• Analytical Essay # 60598 : "Wallace Stevens' Poetry"
• Poem Review # 119432 : "Poem: Wallace Stevens' "The Snow Man"
• Analytical Essay # 46021 : "The Poetry of Wallace Stevens"
• Analytical Essay # 3006 : "Wallace Stevens' Poem "Comedian as the Letter C"

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