Of Modern Poetry (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Wallace Stevens
- First Published: 1940
- Type of Work: Poem
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Language or languages, Acting or actors, Music or musicians, Poetry or poets, Writing, War, Metaphysics, Aesthetics, Poetics
One of the most frequently anthologized of Stevens's poems, “Of Modern Poetry” is another work that attempts to define art for a fragmented world in constant flux. Poetry is now a search, whereas it used to be a method. In the past, “the scene was set; it repeated what/ Was in the script.” That is, convention and tradition defined poetry, and each poem was a modification of a pattern. Now, Stevens says, the conventions no longer apply.
The poem must reflect the world, speak its speech; it must “face the men of the time and . . . meet/ The women of the time.” War, the...
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