Wallace Stevens

Valley Candle

Valley Candle - meaning Summary

Fleeting Image in Vastness

The poem presents a small, solitary candle in a vast valley as a stand-in for a fragile human presence or creative consciousness. Massive, impersonal “beams of the huge night” focus on the candle and then on its image, suggesting attention, projection, or representation. The recurring interruption of wind emphasizes vulnerability and the transient nature of perception or creation. The brief, repeated scene registers how fragile things are amid overwhelming surroundings.

Read Complete Analyses

My candle burned alone in an immense valley. Beams of the huge night converged upon it, Until the wind blew. The beams of the huge night Converged upon its image, Until the wind blew.

default user
PoetryVerse just now

Feel free to be first to leave comment.

8/2200 - 0