tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post607846329629543041..comments2024-03-23T20:37:37.891-07:00Comments on First Known When Lost: "And August The Most Peaceful Month"Stephen Pentzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-68862632089303364772014-08-15T09:25:04.880-07:002014-08-15T09:25:04.880-07:00Ms Aykroyd: it's good to hear from you again. ...Ms Aykroyd: it's good to hear from you again. Thank you for the link to your post -- I'm aware of, but haven't read, Watership Down, so the parallels you draw are interesting. Also, I never thought I would hear Bill Murray reading "A Rabbit as King of the Ghosts" -- quite a surprise. Although I had the feeling that he had never seen the poem before. I could be wrong.<br /><br />I agree with you about Stevens: I've been reading his poetry for nearly 40 years now, and I still get, as you say, tired and irritated at times. But as the years pass, one finds that, although some poems will always remain impenetrable, there are dozens of others that are irreplaceable. At least that's been my experience. Which is why I keep returning to him, despite the frustrations.<br /><br />As ever, thank you very much for visiting, and for your thoughts.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-49579297892200675792014-08-14T07:42:00.050-07:002014-08-14T07:42:00.050-07:00A Rabbit As King of the Ghosts reminds me of Richa...A Rabbit As King of the Ghosts reminds me of Richard Adams' Watership Down. Some descriptive similarities, the sort of magical realism, etc. Of course, Watership Down is a later work. I wrote about the similarities (as I see them in my personal way) here: http://thestoneandthestar.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/wallace-stevenss-rabbit-as-king-of.html<br /><br />I like Stevens very much but he makes me a bit tired in a head-turning-around way. He is highly philosophical and perspective-bending, and depending on my mood it can be wonderful, or a bit irritating. Clarissa Aykroydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08571136118573329263noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-91968883162969264042014-08-10T15:26:37.787-07:002014-08-10T15:26:37.787-07:00Sam Vega: your description of how you feel about ...Sam Vega: your description of how you feel about the poem is perfect: "The rabbit poem is beautiful without me knowing why." This describes exactly how I feel about it (and about quite a few other of Stevens' poems). I think this is perfectly acceptable. <br /><br />Stevens can be a hard nut to crack. But, for some reason, I have always been willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for the sheer beauty of the writing. And I also confess that I was prepared to love the poem (I first read it in college) when I saw the title.<br /><br />I've always wondered why Stevens has never become better known in the UK. He has been noticed by a few poets and critics -- Frank Kermode, R. S. Thomas (who wrote at least two poems about him), Charles Tomlinson, and Roy Fuller come to mind -- but, as a general matter, he seems to be fairly unknown. On the other hand, his poetry is a cottage industry over here for academics (a decidedly mixed blessing, of course). I would say that he runs a close second to T. S. Eliot in terms of critical attention. Which I suppose stands to reason given the surface difficulty of his poetry -- he provides a great deal of fodder for "interpretation." Alas.<br /><br />By the way, as a sympathetic introduction to Stevens, I highly recommend an essay by Roy Fuller titled "Both Pie and Custard," which appears in Fuller's book Owls and Artificers: Oxford Lectures on Poetry (1971). The essay mentions in particular Stevens' letters, which I also recommend.<br /><br />Yes, we are a great deal like England here when it comes to the seasons. As I may have mentioned to you before, the correspondence is even more striking about 150 miles north of here in Vancouver, British Columbia -- which may explain why, over the years, English expats have found their way there.<br /><br />As always, it is a pleasure to hear from you. Thank you very much for your thoughts. And I'm pleased you liked the Stevens poem.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-1470363038204671402014-08-10T15:05:42.265-07:002014-08-10T15:05:42.265-07:00Anonymous: thank you very much for mentioning &qu...Anonymous: thank you very much for mentioning "Things of August," and for providing Section X. I hadn't paid any attention to that poem until last year, and I agree with you that it contains some fine things. I have more patience with Stevens in his final years!<br /><br />And your echoes of Keats and Frost are apt as well.<br /><br />Thanks again.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-76376093098501818972014-08-10T11:58:55.623-07:002014-08-10T11:58:55.623-07:00Many thanks. I know virtually nothing of Stevens,...Many thanks. I know virtually nothing of Stevens, other than his poems which crop up in anthologies. The rabbit poem is beautiful without me knowing why. I don't even know what it is about, really. Your attempts to explain are gentle and respectful. <br />And again, I'm struck by how amazingly similar our very different parts of the world are, when it comes to the seasons changing. Best wishes.Sam Vegahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05978971199859845931noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-54708847326459660492014-08-10T11:03:36.666-07:002014-08-10T11:03:36.666-07:00A late poem by Stevens, one probably unfamiliar to...A late poem by Stevens, one probably unfamiliar to most of us, is "Things of August." For one thing the poem is rather long, comprising ten sections. It is not one of his anthologized poems probably because, and one is loath to say this about Stevens, the poem is uneven. <br /><br />In the poem Stevens moves from "bare autumn back to late summer." <br /><br />He captures brilliantly, as he always does, "August sounds, sights, weather, etc., and memories therefrom."<br /><br />I quote the last section of the poem, section X (section IV is lovely also):<br /><br />The mornings grow silent, the never-tiring wonder.<br />The trees are appearing in poverty.<br /><br />Without rain, there is the sadness of rain<br />And an air of lateness. The moon is a tricorn<br /><br />Waved in pale adieu. The rex Impolitor [King Death]<br />Will come stamping here, the ruler of less than men,<br /><br />In less than nature. He is not here yet.<br />Here the adult one is still banded with fulgor,<br /><br />Is still warm with the love with which she came,<br />Still touches solemnly with what she was<br /><br />And willed. She has given too much, but not enough.<br />She is exhausted and a little old.<br /><br />This poem, it's serenity at the end, reminds me of Keats's "To Autumn"--that last moment of ripeness ("still branded with fulgor") before the inevitable fall into decay, though one should not dismay or mourn. <br /><br />As Keats says,we should sit patiently and watch "the oozings hours by hours."<br /><br />You have quoted Frost's line in your postings, and it's something all great poets know: "Nothing gold can stay."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com