The Poem That Took the Place of a Mountain
The Poem That Took the Place of a Mountain - fact Summary
Published in Auroras of Autumn
Published in 1950, this short poem imagines a written poem that substitutes for a mountain, providing its reader an inner landscape and a sense of completion. Stevens presents poetry as a constructed place one can enter, rearranging pines and rocks to find a solitary, fitting outlook. The poem echoes his long-held conviction that imaginative work supplies personal bearings and a private home for perception and identity.
Read Complete AnalysesThere it was, word for word, The poem that took the place of a mountain. He breathed its oxygen, Even when the book lay turned in the dust of his table. It reminded him how he had needed A place to go to in his own direction, How he had recomposed the pines, Shifted the rocks and picked his way among clouds, For the outlook that would be right, Where he would be complete in an unexplained completion: The exact rock where his inexactness Would discover, at last, the view toward which they had edged, Where he could lie and, gazing down at the sea, Recognize his unique and solitary home.
Feel free to be first to leave comment.