The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens [Paperback]

Wallace Stevens (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 19, 1990

This definitive poetry collection, originally published in 1954 to honor Stevens on his 75th birthday, contains:

- "Harmonium"
- "Ideas of Order"
- "The Man With the Blue Guitar"
- "Parts of the World"
- "Transport Summer"
- "The Auroras of Autumn"
- "The Rock"

Editorial Reviews

Review

Academic Discourse At Havana
Add This To Rhetoric
Adult Epigram
The American Sublime
Analysis Of A Theme
Anatomy Of Monotony
Anecdote Of Canna
Anecdote Of Men By The Thousand
Anecdote Of The Jar
Anecdote Of The Prince Of Peacocks
Angel Surrounded By Paysans
Anglais Mort A Florence
Another Weeping Woman
Anything Is Beautiful If You Say It Is
The Apostrophe To Vincentine
Arcades Of Philadelphia The Past
Arrival At The Waldorf
Asides On The Oboe
Attempt To Discover Life
The Auroras Of Autumn
Autumn Refrain
The Bagatelles The Madrigals
Banal Sojourn
Bantams In Pine-woods
The Bed Of Old John Zeller
The Beginning
The Bird With The Coppery, Keen Claws
The Blue Buildings In The Summer Air
Botanist On Alp (n.1)
Botanist On Alp (no.2)
The Bouquet
Bouquet Of Belle Scavoir
Bouquet Of Roses In Sunlight
The Brave Man
Burghers Of Petty Death
The Candle A Saint
Celle Qui Fut Heaulmiette
Certain Phenomena Of Sound
Chaos In Motion And Not In Motion
Chocorua To Its Neighbor
Colloquy With A Polish Aunt
The Comedian As The Letter C
The Common Life
A Completely New Set Of Objects
Connoisseur Of Chaos
Continual Conversation With A Silent Man
Contrary Theses (i)
Contrary Theses (ii)
Cortege For Rosenbloom
Country Words
The Countryman
Cousine Bourgeoise
The Creations Of Sound
Credences Of Summer
Crude Foyer
The Cuban Doctor
The Curtains In The House Of The Metaphysician
Cy Est Pourtraicte, Madame Ste Ursule, Et Les Unze Mille...
Dance Of The Macabre Mice
The Death Of A Soldier
Debris Of Life And Mind
Delightful Evening
Depression Before Spring
Description Without Place
Dezembrum
A Dish Of Peaches In Russia
Disillusionment Of Ten O'clock
The Doctor Of Geneva
Domination Of Black
The Dove In The Belly
Dry Loaf
Dutch Graves In Bucks County
The Dwarf
Earthy Anecdote
The Emperor Of Ice-cream
Esthetique Du Mal
Evening Without Angels
Examination Of The Hero In A Time Of War
Explanation
Extracts From Addresses To The Academy Of Fine Ideas
Extraordinary References
Fabliau Of Florida
A Fading Of The Sun
Farewell To Florida
Final Soliloquy Of The Interior Paramour
A Fish-scale Sunrise
Floral Decorations For Bananas
Flyer's Fall
Forces, The Will & The Weather
Frogs Eat Butterflies. Snakes Eat Frogs. Hogs Eat Snakes...
From The Misery Of Don Joost
From The Packet Of Anacharsis
Gallant Chateau
Ghosts As Cocoons
Gigantomachia
Girl In A Nightgown
The Glass Of Water
God Is Good. It Is A Beautiful Night
A Golden Woman In A Silver Mirror
The Good Man Has No Shape
Gray Stones And Gray Pigeons
The Green Plant
Gubbinal
The Hand As A Being
The Hermitage At The Centre
Hibiscus On The Sleeping Shores
A High-toned Old Christian Woman
Holiday In Reality
Homunculus Et La Belle Etoile
The House Was Quiet And The World Was Calm
How To Live What To Do
Human Arrangement
Hymn From A Watermelon Pavilion
The Idea Of Order At Key West
Idiom Of The Hero
Imago
In A Bad Time
In The Carolinas
In The Clear Season Of Grapes
In The Element Of Antagonisms
Indian River
Infanta Marina
Invective Against Swans
The Irish Cliffs Of Moher
The Jack-rabbit
Jasmines's Beautiful Thoughts Underneath The Willow
Jouga
Jumbo
The Lack Of Repose
Landscape With Boat
Large Red Man Reading
Last Looks At The Lilacs
Late Hymn From The Myrrh-mountain
The Latest Freed Man
Le Monocle De Mon Oncle
Lebensweisheitspielerei
Les Plus Belles Pages
Less And Less Human, O Savage Spirit
Life Is Motion
Like Decorations In A Nigger Cemetery
Lions In Sweden
The Load Of Sugar-cane
Loneliness In Jersey City
Long And Sluggish Lines
Looking Across The Fields And Watching The Birds Fly
A Lot Of People Bathing In A Stream
Lunar Paraphrase
Madame La Fleurie
Man And Bottle
Man Carrying Thing
The Man On The Dump
The Man Whose Pharynx Was Bad
The Man With The Blue Guitar
Martial Cadenza
Meditation Celestial & Terrestrial
Men Made Out Of Words
The Men That Are Falling
Metamorphosis
Metaphor As Degeneration
Metaphors Of A Magnifico
Montrachet-le-jardin
The Motive For Metaphor
Mountains Covered With Cats
Mozart, 1935
Mrs. Alfred Uruguay
Mud Master
Negation
New England Verses
The News And The Weather
No Possum, No Sop, No Taters
Nomad Exquisite
Not Ideas About The Thing But The Thing Itself
Note On Moonlight
Notes Toward A Supreme Fiction: Conclusion
Notes Toward A Supreme Fiction: It Must Be Abstract
Notes Toward A Supreme Fiction: It Must Change
Notes Toward A Supreme Fiction: It Must Give Pleasure
Notes Toward A Supreme Fiction: Prelude
The Novel
Nuances Of A Theme By Williams
Nudity At The Capital
Nudity In The Colonies
O Florida, Venereal Soil
Oak Leaves Are Hands
Of Bright & Blue Birds & The Gala Sun
Of Hartford In A Purple Light
Of Heaven Considered As A Tomb
Of Modern Poetry
Of The Surface Of Things
The Old Lutheran Bells At Home
An Old Man Asleep
On An Old Horn
On The Adequacy Of Landscape
On The Manner Of Addressing Clouds
On The Road Home
One Of The Inhabitants Of The West
An Ordinary Evening In New Haven
The Ordinary Women
Our Stars Come From Ireland
The Owl In The Sarcophagus
Page From A Tale
Paisant Chronicle
Palace Of The Babies
The Paltry Nude Starts On A Spring Voyage
Parochial Theme
The Pastor Caballero
A Pastoral Nun
The Pediment Of Appearance
Peter Quince At The Clavier
Phosphor Reading By His Own Light
Pieces
The Place Of The Solitaires
The Plain Sense Of Things
The Planet On The Table
The Pleasures Of Merely Circulating
The Plot Against The Giant
The Poem That Took The Place Of A Mountain
Poem With Rhythms
Poem Written At Morning
The Poems Of Our Climate
Poesie Abrutie
Poetry Is A Destructive Force
A Postcard From The Volcano
The Prejudice Against The Past
Prelude To Objects
A Primitive Like And Orb
Prologues To What Is Possible
The Public Square
Puella Parvula
The Pure Good Of Theory
Questions Are Remarks
A Quiet Normal Life
A Rabbit As King Of The Ghosts
Re-statement Of Romance
The Reader
The Red Fern
Repetitions Of A Young Captain
Reply To Papini
The Revolutionist Stop For Orangeade
The River Of Rivers In Connecticut
The Rock
Sad Strains Of A Gay Waltz
Sailing After Lunch
Saint John And The Back-ache
Sea Surface Full Of Clouds
The Search For Sound Free From Motion
The Sense Of The Sleight-of-hand Man
Six Significant Landscapes
Sketch Of The Ultimate Politician
Snow And Stars
The Snow Man
So-and-so Reclining On Her Couch
Some Friends From Pascagoula
Somnambulisma
Sonatina To Hans Christian
Song Of Fixed Accord
St. Armorer's Church From The Outside
Stars At Tallapoosa
Study Of Images 1
Study Of Images 2
Study Of Two Pears
The Sun This March
Sunday Morning
The Surprises Of The Superhuman
Tattoo
Tea
Tea At The Palaz Of Hoon
Theory
Things Of August
Thinking Of A Relation Between The Images Of Methaphors
Thirteen Ways Of Looking At A Blackbird
This Solitude Of Cataracts
A Thought Revolved
Thunder By The Musician
To An Old Philosopher In Rome
To The One Of Fictive Music
To The Roaring Wind
Two At Norfolk
Two Figures In Dense Violet Light
Two Illustrations That The World Is What You Make Of It
Two Tales Of Liadoff
Two Versions Of The Same Poem, That Which Cannot Be Fixed: 1
Two Versions Of The Same Poem, That Which Cannot Be Fixed: 1
The Ultimate Poem Is Abstract
United Dames Of America
Vacancy In The Park
Valley Candle
Variations On A Summer Day
The Virgin Carrying A Lantern
Waving Adieu, Adieu, Adieu
A Weak Mind In The Mountains
The Weeping Burgher
The Well Dressed Man With A Beard
What We See Is What We Think
Wild Ducks, People And Distances
The Wind Shifts
Winter Bells
The Woman In Sunshine
Woman Looking At A Vase Of Flowers
A Woman Sings A Song For A Soldier Come Home
A Word With Jose Rodriguez-feo
The World As Meditation
World Without Peculiarity
The Worms At Heaven's Gate
Yellow Afternoon
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

From the Inside Flap

This definitive poetry collection, originally published in 1954 to honor Stevens on his 75th birthday, contains:

- "Harmonium"
- "Ideas of Order"
- "The Man With the Blue Guitar"
- "Parts of the World"
- "Transport Summer"
- "The Auroras of Autumn"
- "The Rock"

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; Reissue edition (February 19, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679726691
• ISBN-13: 978-0679726692
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,254 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #70 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > American

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 66 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars This is OK but there are better Stevens Collections May 5, 2006

By Sedgwick A. Ward

Format:Paperback

This collection lacks 22 poems which appeared in "The Palm at the End of the Mind", Holly Stevens carefully edited selection highly approved of by Harold Bloom. Missing are "Of Mere Being", "A Child Asleep in Its Own Life" and "For an Old Woman in a Wig" to name but three. It leaves out the added lines of "The Man Whose Pharynx Was Bad". It lacks an index of first lines. If you're going to buy a book of Stevens' poems spend the extra $10 and get the magnificent Library of America "Collected Poetry and Prose" which contains EVERYTHING, is a huge bargain and will keep you occupied for the rest of your life. Or possibly get Holly Stevens "The Palm at the End of the Mind" which eliminates a lot of lesser poems which could confuse a newcomer to Stevens. The Vintage people have thrown this together without much thought. It's better than nothing, but the other two books I have named are the one's to get.

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A poet's eye November 18, 2004

By E. A Solinas HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

"Her terrace was the sand/And the palms and the twilight" -- and those are only the first two lines. Dipping into surrealism and imbued with spirituality, his poetry is compiled into "The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens," which includes seven compilations of his work.

Over his lifetime, Stevens wrote several books of poetry, but his exquisite poems are best taken by themselves: the lush grandeur of "Sunday Morning," the hymnlike "Le Monocle De Mon Oncle," and the humid grittiness of "O Florida, Venereal Soil." He takes multiple looks at "Thirteen Ways of Looking At A Blackbird," and the lush "Six Significant Landscapes."

In other poems, Stevens dips into outright surrealism, like in the delicate "Tattoo" ("There are filaments of your eyes/On the surface of the water/And in the edges of the snow"), and also adds a meditative bent into "The Snow Man" ("For the listener, who listens in the snow,/And, nothing himself, beholds/Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is").

If nothing else, Stevens' poetry can be read just because it is exquisitely beautiful. He lavished details all over almost every poem he wrote, and gave many of them the quality of a dream. His descriptions are simply written, but brilliantly laid out: "When my dream was near the moon,/The white folds of its gown/Filled with yellow light."

His style tends to be a bit on the ornate side -- Stevens freely uses the more exotic terms -- such as "opalescence," "pendentives" and "muleteers" -- wrapped up in complex verse, sometimes with a rhyme scheme and sometimes free-form. And lush detail is added to many of his poems, with descriptions of the moon, sun, plants and lighting, along with dazzling descriptions of the colors.

But his writing is more than beautiful. Stevens' work often poses questions about death, life, religion, and art, taking the conventional and turning it on its head. His belief in the importance of his art is reflected in poems like "Not Ideas About The Thing But The Thing Itself," which ends with the portentous lines: "Surrounded by its choral rings,/Still far away. It was like/A new knowledge of reality."

Wallace Stevens is one of the most unique poets of the 20th century, and the sprawling "Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens" is a wonderful read.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Intensest Rendez-vous... January 20, 2000

By "thelessdeceived"

Format:Paperback

Stevens is a quirky and imaginative poet with a taste for unusual diction, a fluidity of ideas and an unerring instinct for the haunting and intriguing. The poems are meditational in their completeness and memorability and present a more delightful and pleasurable style of Modernism than the other 'greats' of the period such as T S Eliot or Ezra Pound. His attempts to create a 'Supreme Fiction' can at times be baffling, but there is a richness of pure self-indulgence in the poetry which means that it is immediately compulsive and a book which several of my friends agree is 'essential' to any poetry collection, whether its concern be with Poetry at its literary finest or with the langorous pleasure of 'the green freedom of a cockatoo...'and inspirational dream-like meditations. Treat yourself!