The Place of the Solitaires
Encyclopedia
"The Place of the Solitaires" is a poem from Wallace Stevens
's first book of poetry, Harmonium
. It was first published in the journal Poetry in October, 1919, so it is in the public domain.http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4077
Some interpreters understand the poem as an expression of Heraclitus's
philosophy that all is flux. Others classify it as among those poems that are all about style, with no content to speak of.
The poet Mark Strand takes a different tack, assuring the reader that in order to understand this poem, "[O]ne only has to remember the perpetual undulation has not only to do with the recurrent motion of the waves but the desired motion of the hand as it writes.http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/authors/stevens/poem.html The poetry of the subject makes reference to sea and beaches, whereas the true subject of the poem is Stevens's craft as a poet. Writing is a solitary vocation, a place for "the solitaires" who must practise continual motion of thought and inscription.
As usual Stevens is willing to communicate, but does not go out of his way to make his meaning plain. "One does not write for any reader except one," as he says in Adagia, and also, less solipsistically, "Poetry must resist the intelligence almost successfully." Other writers and immigrants to the world of thought can perhaps be inspired by "The place of the solitaires" as a response to the solitary and somewhat melancholy life of the mind. (Adagia: "Poetry is a form of melancholia.")
The poetry of the subject is paramount, and to that extent it is important to appreciate the poem's syntactic structure and its evocation of a Heraclitian mood. This primacy is why "Poetry is not a personal matter" Yet poems have roots in the poet's life. They have subjects "that are the symbols of one's self or of one of one's selves."
See also "Le Monocle de Mon Oncle
" for the distinction between the poetry of the subject and the subject of the poem, and The Weeping Burgher
for a more subjective perspective on the poet's craft.
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...
. It was first published in the journal Poetry in October, 1919, so it is in the public domain.http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4077
| The Place of the Solitaires
|
Some interpreters understand the poem as an expression of Heraclitus's
Heraclitus
Heraclitus of Ephesus was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, a native of the Greek city Ephesus, Ionia, on the coast of Asia Minor. He was of distinguished parentage. Little is known about his early life and education, but he regarded himself as self-taught and a pioneer of wisdom...
philosophy that all is flux. Others classify it as among those poems that are all about style, with no content to speak of.
The poet Mark Strand takes a different tack, assuring the reader that in order to understand this poem, "[O]ne only has to remember the perpetual undulation has not only to do with the recurrent motion of the waves but the desired motion of the hand as it writes.http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/authors/stevens/poem.html The poetry of the subject makes reference to sea and beaches, whereas the true subject of the poem is Stevens's craft as a poet. Writing is a solitary vocation, a place for "the solitaires" who must practise continual motion of thought and inscription.
As usual Stevens is willing to communicate, but does not go out of his way to make his meaning plain. "One does not write for any reader except one," as he says in Adagia, and also, less solipsistically, "Poetry must resist the intelligence almost successfully." Other writers and immigrants to the world of thought can perhaps be inspired by "The place of the solitaires" as a response to the solitary and somewhat melancholy life of the mind. (Adagia: "Poetry is a form of melancholia.")
The poetry of the subject is paramount, and to that extent it is important to appreciate the poem's syntactic structure and its evocation of a Heraclitian mood. This primacy is why "Poetry is not a personal matter" Yet poems have roots in the poet's life. They have subjects "that are the symbols of one's self or of one of one's selves."
See also "Le Monocle de Mon Oncle
Le Monocle de Mon Oncle
"Le Monocle de Mon Oncle" is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry,Harmonium. It was first published in 1918.Quoted here is the eighth canto...
" for the distinction between the poetry of the subject and the subject of the poem, and The Weeping Burgher
The Weeping Burgher
"The Weeping Burgher" is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, Harmonium. It was originally published in 1919, so it is in the public domain.Stevens confesses to a strange malice that distorts the world as given...
for a more subjective perspective on the poet's craft.