Wallace Stevens Research Paper

One of the more beautiful things about nature is that it is constantly changing and hold so many mysteries that we don’t understand. Each day brings new beauties and scenes that weren’t there yesterday. Having grown up on the east coast might have caused me to have a greater appreciation for all of the seasons, but one of my favorite things about season is being able to witness the changing over form one to the next. How each plant knows that the change is coming and they all magically start to prepare themselves for the new setting they’re going to create. The romantics capture the mysteries of nature in some of the most beautiful poetry. They delve deep into the possible meanings of what nature could be attempting to tell us or simple what they find beautiful about what they see in nature. One piece that stuck with me this quarter was The Snow Storm by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Winter has always been one of my favorite season since I was a little girl and have always anxiously awaited that first snow fall, dreaming of a white Christmas that year. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s The Snow Storm brought back nostalgic memories of snow filled days in my childhood and made me appreciate having actually experienced snow in real life and the beauty

Bryant had thoughts that were triggered by nature. Bryant often speaks of birds, flowers, the sky, bodies of water, and fields which lead to Bryant taking notice of his surroundings. Bryant’s love for nature is nothing short of amazing. Nature speaks to his heart, which allows nature to be more of a feeling than just trees, birds, plants, etc. Bryant’s writing is charming and simplistic. Bryant is fond of nature’s beauty. He never speaks of the “ugliness” in nature. He has a way of making everything come alive and seem even more beautiful than what it already is.

In the romantic era, British authors and poets focused on nature and its influence. Two of those poets, Charlotte Smith and William Wordsworth, wrote many pieces on the beauty of nature and their personal experiences with the beaches of England. In “Far on the sands” and “It is a beauteous evening,” Smith and Wordsworth describe their respective experiences on the shore at sunset. Both authors use structure, theme, allusions, and imagery to effectively convey their perceptions of nature. While the sonnets share a setting and the topics of nature and tranquility, Smith’s has a focus on introspection and Wordsworth’s is centered around religion. These have different focuses which achieve different effects on the reader.

Through my studies of this poem, I was unable to find any documentation of the poet, Jim Stevens; therefore I was unable to assess his life and his reasoning behind writing this poem. Because of this I have had to make my own assumption that Jim Stevens might be writing this poem about himself. His lack of publication leaves a

John Paul Stevens was born in Chicago, Illinois on April 20, 1920. His Parents were Elizabeth Street and Ernest J. Stevens. His family was upper class and very wealthy. John Paul was married to Maryan Stevens from December 1979- August 7,2015, she had passed away. He was also married to Elizabeth Jane from June 7, 1942-1979 until divorced. John Paul and Elizabeth Jane had four children together, John Joseph, Kathryn, Elizabeth, and Susan. John Joseph had died in 1996.

Rapper and actor Willard Christopher Smith Jr. was born on September 25, 1968. He was the second oldest of four children born to Willard and Caroline Smith. His father owned a refrigerator repair company, and his mother was a school teacher. Both raised Smith and his siblings in a middle class neighborhood in west Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Keegan, 2007). As a child in school, Smith was very funny and charming. He managed to charm his way out of trouble with the teachers many times and that earned him the nickname “‘Prince’” (Keegan, 2007, p. 84). This nickname would later become part of the title of his hit television show. However, Smith actually got his start in the entertainment business not through acting, but instead by rapping. While

Walt Whitman loved to experiment with form when it came to poetry. He used his verses to show his complete adoration of all things wild, and our role as beings in this infinitely complex and thought-provoking universe in which we exist. To say he had a bit of a “nature crush” would be an understatement – Whitman goes in to great detail of his love for the wildness and often describes his emotions in a viscerally sexual manner, using poetic devices to underline his immense feelings for environment and hammer in the imagery to readers of how majestic the world appears to him. “Romantic” poets loved the outdoors – if it wasn’t contained in four walls and a roof, they were all about it. They loved to praise the innate details that made our planet so incredible,

Wallace Stevens, also commonly called “Wally”, was born October 2nd, 1879 in Reading, Pennsylvania. He attended Harvard University and later went on to also graduate law school from the New York Law School. He married a women named Elsie Moll although his parents not approving. None of his family attended his wedding causing him to not speak to anyone in his family until after the death of his father. He had a daughter named Molly who at a young age began to develop a mental illness causing friction in the marriage although they stayed together and worked through it. After he began writing poetry at the age of 35 he later died of  stomach cancer in 1955. Throughout the years of his life he

During the 1800’s, the period of the life of Walt Whitman, there were several notable writers who felt strong ties to the natural world and allowed their work to reflect this. These included Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emily Dickinson and John Muir and they were all players in the Transcendentalism movement that was coming to life. That theory – that people found their own version of spirituality, often through a connection to nature – is one that all of these great minds espoused in one way or another. But, perhaps Ralph Waldo Emerson had the most influence over Walt Whitman. Their views of nature were closely matched and Emerson, already being an admired writer, was someone Whitman looked up to.

Nature has an undefinable meaning as the theme is utilised in literature, and it has been a topic of reflection within the Romanticists since the beginning of the era. Romanticism and nature and inextricably linked ideas. Poets; Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman wrote during the romantic era, and both drew heavily from aspects of nature in their work. Nature can be paralleled against several things, including humanity and the idea of life and death. The contrast between the natural world and the artificial world, and what this means for society, is also strongly eluded to in Dickinson and Whitman’s poems. Each poet uses nature as the backbone to their poetry in several instances. Dickinson’s, “Hope is the Thing with Feathers”, (Dickinson, 19) and “My Life Has Stood A Loaded Gun”, (Dickinson, 69) are strong examples of this. Whitman’s, “Song of Myself”, (Whitman, 29) and, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, (Whitman, 255) are also poems that show the connection between nature and romanticism. Poets, Dickinson and Whitman engage with romanticism in a creative and constructive manner through the utilisation of the natural world.

This poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson is an exceptional work of his. Entirely characteristic of his poetic approach, it captures the full meaning behind the appreciation of nature, and it does so in a simple yet effective style. The poem is also, in my opinion, an effective rebuttal to the Puritan critique of the Emersonian lifestyle.

While at Harvard “Stevens contributed poems and short stories to the campus literary magazine (American Cultural Leaders).Stevens never got a degree when he went to Harvard but he went to work as a reporter at the New York Tribune. (Stevens, Wallace).Wallace Stevens was one of the most brilliant modernist poets of all time. Stevens “poems,

At the turn of the 20th century, a plethora of poetic revolutions took place due to the social, political, and religious events that defined the era. Imagism is one of the most notable movements, as it spawned many forms of poetry that still thrive today, forms such as: jazz poetry, pylon poetry, and, most notably, nature poetry. Nature poetry shows man’s appreciation of nature, and more importantly man’s ability to use nature to represent large-scale issues through simplistic natural occurrences. D.H. Lawrence is one of the more successful nature poets, as he is able to tie an abundance of themes that

This is another poem that links Whitman to the Romantics. The "birth of the poet" genre was of particular importance to Wordsworth, whose massive Prelude details his artistic coming-of-age in detail. Like Wordsworth, Whitman claims to take his inspiration from nature. Where Wordsworth is inspired by a wordless feeling of awe, though, Whitman finds an opportunity to anthropomorphize, and nature gives him very specific answers to his questions about overarching concepts. Nature is a tabula rasa onto which the poet can project himself. He conquers it, inscribes it. While it may become a part of him that is always present, the fact that it does so seems to be by his permission.

While he was considered abstract as well, he favored the form of imagism. In his poems, he would present direct and objective treatment of the objects. In his poem, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird,” he gives multiple ways to discuss the bird. He uses simple language that is very pastoral in its tone. Some of the reasons he gives in this poem are: “Among twenty snowy mountains, / The only moving thing/ Was the eye of the blackbird” (1-3). Another is “A man and a woman/ Are one. / A man and a woman and a blackbird/ Are one” (9-12). Even though Stevens’ diction can be considered abstract, he presents his objects in a less confusing manner. It is odd to look at a blackbird in thirteen different ways but all thirteen still make some sort of sense. Even though “The river is moving. / The blackbird must be flying,” is able to be distinguished. The river is moving because the blackbird is flying. (48-49) While the idea is abstract, it’s easy to follow. His “Anecdote of a Jar” presents the universe from the perspective of a jar. The jar is in “Tennessee/ And round it was, upon a hill” (3-4). He takes a visual turn when describing his objects. His jar seems to be able to look around it and “take dominion everywhere” (9). He treats objects without as much emotion as Stein. They’re described in simpler terms (compared to the confusion in “Tender Buttons”) whilst using elegant text. He describes a guitar in “The Man with the Blue Guitar.” His description of this object is distinguishable and yet the guitar is described as “Things as they are/ Are changed upon the blue guitar.” His object presents new change and meaning. Stevens uses specific terms when he’s describing his objects. He’s specific yet object in his descriptions, especially in a “Study of Two Pears.” He uses very bland language in his poem, saying the pears are “composed of curves” (6) and “are yellow forms” (5) that