Poetry Is a Destructive Force
Poetry Is a Destructive Force - context Summary
Published in 1950 Collection
Published in 1950 in the collection The Auroras of Autumn, this poem appears among Stevens's late-career writings. It frames an inward, violent impulse as a bodily force—a lion or ox within—using concentrated, animal imagery to dramatize interiority. Placed in a postwar publication, the piece reflects Stevens's continued interest in imagination, identity, and the tension between human restraint and primitive power without tying the poem to a specific event or biography.
Read Complete AnalysesThat's what misery is, Nothing to have at heart. It is to have or nothing. It is a thing to have, A lion, an ox in his breast, To feel it breathing there. Corazon, stout dog, Young ox, bow-legged bear, He tastes its blood, not spit. He is like a man In the body of a violent beast Its muscles are his own... The lion sleeps in the sun. Its nose is on its paws. It can kill a man.
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