The Poetry of Stevens (Masterplots, Definitive Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Wallace Stevens
- First Published: 1932
- Genres: Poetry
- Subjects: United States or Americans, Twentieth century, Authors or writers, Literature, Poetry or poets
Critical Evaluation:
Wallace Stevens’ poetry has been called both “elegant” and “austere.” It has been criticized for “an air of sumptuousness, chic, expensiveness, ’conspicuous consumption,’” as well as for bleakness, abstractness, a lack of personal warmth. Neither of these criticisms, however, says much about Stevens, who, according to Northrop Frye, was a rhetorician and therefore expendable, but an essential poet.
Stevens’ first and perhaps most “elegant,” least “austere,” volume of poems, HARMONIUM, was unlike many first volumes...
[The entire page is 1748 words long]
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