Word: stevenses
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Such a volume is, if nothing else, an indication of Stevens' assured legacy in the development of American poetry. A figure of such enduring merit, the argument goes, must merit a reading of all his works: not just the poetry, but also plays, lectures, notes, correspondence. The heretofore definitive Opus...
Most surprisingly absent from Opus Posthumous is the monumental and idiosyncratic "Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction." Stevens outlines his perfect poetics with instructions such as "it must be abstract," and then taunts us with glistening seascapes and fragrant, ripe fruits. The prime difficulty and import of Stevens' work lies here...
The Library of America volume also adds a number of addresses, including an acutely observant series on the nature of poetry and poetic language entitled "The Necessary Angel," as well as some less stimulating journal submissions such as "Insurance and Social Change" and "Surety and Fidelity Claims." (For most of...
Despite the more or less chronological arrangements of the poems, Collected Poetry and Prose sheds little light on the composition of Stevens' poetic self. Letters and journals yield some understanding of Stevens-the-man, but these are never placed side by side with the contemporaneous poetry, nor are annotations provided...
"Description Without (a Sense of) Place," given as the Phi Beta Kappa poem at Harvard's 1945 Commencement exercises, serves as a key example in which the context of a collection hinders comprehension. Life has halted around the outcome of the war in Europe. Stevens declines to address the issue...