Study of Two Pears
Study of Two Pears - meaning Summary
Attentive Visual Description
The poem is a careful, imagistic study of two pears that resists metaphor and comparison. Stevens catalogues their shape, color, texture and shadows in plain, repeated observations. Attention falls on curving forms, varied yellows with red and blue touches, a dry leaf, and the way light makes shadows on the cloth. The final stanza insists perception cannot simply bend the object to the observer’s will.
Read Complete AnalysesI Opusculum paedagogum. The pears are not viols, Nudes or bottles. They resemble nothing else. II They are yellow forms Composed of curves Bulging toward the base. They are touched red. III They are not flat surfaces Having curved outlines. They are round Tapering toward the top. IV In the way they are modelled There are bits of blue. A hard dry leaf hangs From the stem. V The yellow glistens. It glistens with various yellows, Citrons, oranges and greens Flowering over the skin. VI The shadows of the pears Are blobs on the green cloth. The pears are not seen As the observer wills.
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