I was introduced to Stevens in the 80's when he was the darling of deconstructionists like Paul de Man. I remember reading an anecdote that when Stevens worked at an insurance company would send clerks to the library to look up obscure words. And if I remember correctly, he was another illustrious student of George Santayana at Harvard. I've always liked his poems even though I don't understand them all, but like you said, it's the images and the music to his words that resonate.
That anecdote sounds familiar, but I think it was a co-worker of Stevens and he said that he (the co-worker) decided to try to read some of Stevens' poetry and had to keep going down to the law library to look up words and he (co=worker) remembered that Stevens always seemed to be going to the big dictionary in the law library as well. If this is right I think it was in a PBS style documentary about WS and the old colleague said that he really liked poetry in general but preferred Robert Service to Wallace Stevens.
Two videos in one day? Wasn’t expecting that, almost missed this one. I’ve got a big fat Collected Wallace Stevens that I haven’t delved into yet. Judging from word on the street, folks seem to love him or are stymied by him. Myself, I’m very much digging this blackbird poem.
This video didn’t show up in my feed at first. I’ve had that book for a long time, but I’ve never studied Stevens so as to understand the ethos or the milieu, or even to really understand how modernism is defined. The ‘cubist’ correlative sounds just right for that poem - in my day probably his most frequently anthologized in school textbooks and the like. I don’t think I understood him _at all_ when I was younger, but find him less veiled now.
Stevens is a strange poet and a lot of his stuff is pretty misty to me, but the early books are really good. One of my undergraduate papers was an attempt to analogize a bunch of Stevens' poems to things in early modern art. I'm sure I'd die of embarrassment if I tried to read it today.
Ah, thanks for this - always enjoyed Stevens.
Thanks for watching!
I was introduced to Stevens in the 80's when he was the darling of deconstructionists like Paul de Man. I remember reading an anecdote that when Stevens worked at an insurance company would send clerks to the library to look up obscure words. And if I remember correctly, he was another illustrious student of George Santayana at Harvard. I've always liked his poems even though I don't understand them all, but like you said, it's the images and the music to his words that resonate.
That anecdote sounds familiar, but I think it was a co-worker of Stevens and he said that he (the co-worker) decided to try to read some of Stevens' poetry and had to keep going down to the law library to look up words and he (co=worker) remembered that Stevens always seemed to be going to the big dictionary in the law library as well. If this is right I think it was in a PBS style documentary about WS and the old colleague said that he really liked poetry in general but preferred Robert Service to Wallace Stevens.
Two videos in one day? Wasn’t expecting that, almost missed this one. I’ve got a big fat Collected Wallace Stevens that I haven’t delved into yet. Judging from word on the street, folks seem to love him or are stymied by him. Myself, I’m very much digging this blackbird poem.
Out of character I know. Just trying to keep the algorithm from finding me!
This video didn’t show up in my feed at first. I’ve had that book for a long time, but I’ve never studied Stevens so as to understand the ethos or the milieu, or even to really understand how modernism is defined. The ‘cubist’ correlative sounds just right for that poem - in my day probably his most frequently anthologized in school textbooks and the like.
I don’t think I understood him _at all_ when I was younger, but find him less veiled now.
Stevens is a strange poet and a lot of his stuff is pretty misty to me, but the early books are really good. One of my undergraduate papers was an attempt to analogize a bunch of Stevens' poems to things in early modern art. I'm sure I'd die of embarrassment if I tried to read it today.