Earthy Anecdote
Earthy Anecdote - context Summary
Published in Harmonium, 1923
Published in Stevens’s first book Harmonium (1923), Earthy Anecdote
belongs to his early, experimental phase. The poem stages a whimsical, imagistic scene—bucks and a firecat
—that emphasizes pattern, sound, and imaginative projection over realist narration. Within the collection it exemplifies Stevens’s interest in how perception and poetic imagination transform ordinary events into vivid, autonomous constructs. Its brevity and playful repetition reflect modernist experiments with voice and form.
Every time the bucks went clattering Over Oklahoma A firecat bristled in the way. Wherever they went, They went clattering, Until they swerved In a swift, circular line To the right, Because of the firecat. Or until they swerved In a swift, circular line To the left, Because of the firecat. The bucks clattered. The firecat went leaping, To the right, to the left, And Bristled in the way. Later, the firecat closed his bright eyes And slept.
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