Tea
Tea - context Summary
Published in 1923
"Tea" appears in Wallace Stevens's first major collection, Harmonium, published in 1923. The short lyric situates a small domestic moment—a lamp shining on pillows—against a wintry park image, then transforms it with exotic simile. Placed early in Stevens's career, the poem exemplifies his tendency to transfigure everyday scenes through vivid visual language and associative leaps, reflecting the collection's focus on imagination shaping perception.
Read Complete AnalysesWhen the elephant's-ear in the park Shrivelled in frost, And the leaves on the paths Ran like rats, Your lamp-light fell On shining pillows, Of sea-shades and sky-shades, Like umbrellas in Java.
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