A Postcard from the Volcano (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Wallace Stevens
- First Published: 1935
- Type of Work: Elegy
- Genres: Poetry, Elegy
- Subjects: Language or languages, Children, South or Southerners, Communication, Future, Imagination, Life and death, Foxes, Seasons
The Poem
“A Postcard from the Volcano” is a short elegy written in three-line verses of unrhymed tetrameter. The title image captures the theme and perspective of the poem. It suggests a small or compressed message from something big and violent, conveying a loss that is too huge for the tiny means chosen for the communication.
The poem is written from a first-person plural viewpoint. The speaker projects into the future, referring to another generation (“children”) looking back at the present one. There appears to be a significant gap between what they will see...
[The entire page is 1604 words long]
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