Nuances of a Theme by Williams
Nuances of a Theme by Williams - meaning Summary
Solitary Luminous Courage
The speaker addresses an "ancient star" whose impersonal radiance gives a paradoxical courage. The poem insists the star remain autonomous: to shine nakedly without reflecting the speaker, without lending itself to human feeling or becoming a hybrid "half-man, half-star." Stevens values a luminous, detached presence that resists projection and sympathy, suggesting moral or aesthetic strength in things that retain their separateness from human sentiment.
Read Complete AnalysesIt's a strange courage you give me, ancient star: Shine alone in the sunrise toward which you lend no part! I Shine alone, shine nakedly, shine like bronze, that reflects neither my face nor any inner part of my being, shine like fire, that mirrors nothing. II Lend no part to any humanity that suffuses you in its own light. Be not chimera of morning, Half-man, half-star. Be not an intelligence, Like a widow's bird Or an old horse.
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