Wallace Stevens

In the Carolinas

In the Carolinas - meaning Summary

Season and Sensual Renewal

The poem contrasts fading spring blooms with emergent life in the Carolinas, pairing natural images and maternal presence. Butterflies and newborns signal renewal, while mothers are addressed directly, their bodies evoking both preservation and sudden sweetness. Nature and human sexuality merge: pine scent and white iris become sources of bodily and aesthetic transformation for the speaker. The result is a compact meditation on renewal, desire, and the intertwining of landscape and maternity.

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The lilacs wither in the Carolinas. Already the butterflies flutter above the cabins. Already the new-born children interpret love In the voices of mothers. Timeless mothers, How is it that your aspic nipples For once vent honey? The pine-tree sweetens my body The white iris beautifies me.

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