Depression Before Spring

Depression Before Spring - context Summary

Published in Harmonium, 1919

Published in Wallace Stevens’ 1919 collection Harmonium, this brief poem stages a muted, ironic take on spring. Barnyard sounds and pastoral images—cocks, cows, a "queen" and green slippers—are arranged so renewal fails to arrive. Its compact lines emphasize sound and contrast rather than narrative, creating a small, unsettling tableau that fits Harmonium’s early experiments with modern diction, musicality, and destabilized traditional pastoral motifs.