The Surprises of the Superhuman
The Surprises of the Superhuman - context Summary
Published in Harmonium, 1923
Published in Stevens's 1923 collection Harmonium, this short poem frames a fanciful courthouse of chambermaids against the idea of Ubermenschlichkeit. It signals a skeptical, ironic view of superhuman doctrines: lofty dicta and regal pronouncements, however grand, only exacerbate human faults. The poem juxtaposes elevated ideals with mundane vulnerability, suggesting that imposing transcendent solutions may worsen rather than mend ordinary human conditions.
Read Complete AnalysesThe palais de justice of chambermaids Tops the horizon with its colonnades. If it were lost in Ubermenschlichkeit, Perhaps our wretched state would soon come right. For somehow the brave dicta of its kings Make more awry our faulty human things.
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