Lunar Paraphrase
Encyclopedia
"Lunar Paraphrase" is a poem from the second (1931) edition of
Wallace Stevens
's first book of poetry,
Harmonium
. One of Stevens's
"war poems" from "Lettres d'un Soldat" (1918), it is in the public
domain.
The poem makes use of a late autumn night to express a mood. It appropriates Christian images in a manner that is consistent with a naturalism that disclaims religious belief. (See Sunday Morning
for another expression of that outlook.) Stevens's post-Christian sensibility channels emotions into nature rather than God and associated religious figures like Jesus and Mary. In this case, pathos and pity are channeled into autumn and the moon. Vendler has proposed that the weather is the only phenomenon to which Stevens was passionately attached, and a poem like "Lunar Paraphrase" shows how that might be true, when the weather is understood as representing nature as a focus for emotions that otherwise might have been given religious expression. Stevens's poetic naturalism was a significant achievement, from which he may or may not have retreated at the end of his life, depending on what one makes of the evidence of a deathbed conversion
to Catholicism.
The movement of the moon's old light may be compared to the light in Tattoo, which crawls over the water like a spider.
Wallace Stevens
Wallace Stevens
Wallace Stevens was an American Modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as a lawyer for the Hartford insurance company in Connecticut.His best-known poems include "Anecdote of the Jar",...
's first book of poetry,
Harmonium
Harmonium (poetry collection)
Harmonium is a book of poetry by U.S. poet Wallace Stevens. His first book, it was published in 1923 by Knopf in an edition of 1500 copies. He was in middle age at that time, forty-four years old. The collection comprises 85 poems, ranging in length from just a few lines to several hundred...
. One of Stevens's
"war poems" from "Lettres d'un Soldat" (1918), it is in the public
domain.
| Lunar Paraphrase
|
The poem makes use of a late autumn night to express a mood. It appropriates Christian images in a manner that is consistent with a naturalism that disclaims religious belief. (See Sunday Morning
Sunday Morning (poem)
"Sunday Morning" is a poem from Wallace Stevens' first book of poetry, Harmonium. Published in part in the November 1915 issue of Poetry, then in full in 1923 in Harmonium, it is now in the public domain....
for another expression of that outlook.) Stevens's post-Christian sensibility channels emotions into nature rather than God and associated religious figures like Jesus and Mary. In this case, pathos and pity are channeled into autumn and the moon. Vendler has proposed that the weather is the only phenomenon to which Stevens was passionately attached, and a poem like "Lunar Paraphrase" shows how that might be true, when the weather is understood as representing nature as a focus for emotions that otherwise might have been given religious expression. Stevens's poetic naturalism was a significant achievement, from which he may or may not have retreated at the end of his life, depending on what one makes of the evidence of a deathbed conversion
Deathbed conversion
A deathbed conversion is the adoption of a particular religious faith shortly before dying. Making a conversion on one's deathbed may reflect an immediate change of belief, a desire to formalize longer-term beliefs, a desire to complete a process of conversion already underway, or a subconscious...
to Catholicism.
The movement of the moon's old light may be compared to the light in Tattoo, which crawls over the water like a spider.