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Wallace Stevens

Wallace Stevens Quotes

Poet

Wallace Stevens was an American poet known for his unique modernist style and philosophical reflections. His poetry often explores the connection between abstract concepts and everyday life, and is considered one of the most influential poets of the 20th century.

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All World Poetry Imagination Mind Poet Men Ifs Reality People Poetry Is Night Wind Sky Winter Desire Should Snow Sun Tree Way

Famous Wallace Stevens Quotes

“The whole race is a poet that writes down / The eccentric propositions of its fate.”

Writing Whole Race Fate Poet Propositions Eccentric

Book:The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens

Source: The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens

“The poet represents the mind in the act of defending us against itself.”

Author:Wallace Stevens

“Life consists Of propositions about life. The human Revery is a solitude in which We compose these propositions, torn by dreams, By the terrible incantations of defeats And by the fear that the defeats and the dreams are one. The whole race is a poet that writes down The eccentric propositions of its fate.”

Writing Humans Whole Dream Race Fate Poet Terrible Solitude Defeat Torn Propositions Eccentric

Book:Souvenirs and prophecies: the young Wallace Stevens

Source: Souvenirs and prophecies: the young Wallace Stevens

“A poet's words are of things that do not exist without the words.”

Book:The Necessary Angel: Essays on Reality and the Imagination

Source: The Necessary Angel: Essays on Reality and the Imagination

“Poetry is poetry, and one's objective as a poet is to achieve poetry precisely as one's objective in music is to achieve music.”

Poetry Achieve Poet Music Is Objectives Poetry Is

Book:Opus Posthumous: Poems, Plays, Prose

Source: Opus Posthumous: Poems, Plays, Prose

“Most poets who have little or nothing to say are concerned primarily with the way in which they say it ... if it is true that the style of a poem and the poem itself are one, ... it may be ... that the poets who have little or nothing to say are, or will be, the poets that matter.”

Ifs Way May Littles Art Matter Poetry Style Poet Concerned

Book:Collected Poetry and Prose

Source: Collected Poetry and Prose

“Poetry is a finikin thing of air That lives uncertainly and not for long Yet radiantly beyond much lustier blurs.”

Long Poetry Air Poet Poetry Is Blur

Book:The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens

Source: The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens

“Soldier, there is a war between the mind And sky, between thought and day and night. It is For that the poet is always in the sun, Patches the moon together in his room To his Virgilian cadences, up down, Up down. It is a war that never ends.”

Mind War Ends Together Poetry Night Rooms Sun Sky Poet Moon Soldier Patches Day And Night Cadence

Book:The Palm at the End of the Mind: Selected Poems and a Play

Source: The Palm at the End of the Mind: Selected Poems and a Play

“You know that the nucleus of a time is not The poet but the poem, the growth of the mind Of the world, the heroic effort to live expressed As victory. The poet does not speak in ruins Nor stand there making orotund consolations. He shares the confusions of intelligence.”

Knows World Mind Doe Poetry Speak Growth Effort Share Poet Victory Confusion Ruins Heroic Consolation Nucleus

Book:The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens

Source: The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens

“It is never the thing but the version of the thing: The fragrance of the woman not her self, Her self in her manner not the solid block, The day in its color not perpending time, Time in its weather, our most sovereign lord, The weather in words and words in sounds of sound.”

Self Poetry Time Sound Lord Color Poet Perception Versions Weather Block Sovereign Fragrance

Book:The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens

Source: The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens

“To a large extent, the problems of poets are the problems of painters, and poets must often turn to the literature of painting for a discussion of their own problems.”

Problem Turns Literature Painting Poet Painter Discussion

Author:Wallace Stevens

“The poet's function is to make his imagination . . . become the light in the mind of others. His role, in short, is to help people to live their lives.”

People Mind Helping Light Imagination Roles Poet Function

Book:The Necessary Angel: Essays on Reality and the Imagination

Source: The Necessary Angel: Essays on Reality and the Imagination

“It gives a man character as a poet to have a daily contact with a job. I doubt whether I've lost a thing by leading an exceedingly regular and disciplined life.”

Men Giving Character Jobs Lost Doubt Poet Contact Disciplined Life

Author:Wallace Stevens

“A poet looks at the world the way a man looks at a woman.”

Men World Way Writing Looks Poetry Poet Poetic Housework

Author:Wallace Stevens

“The philosopher proves that the philosopher exists. The poet merely enjoys existence.”

Philosophy Enjoy Existence Poet Prove Philosopher

Book:The Necessary Angel: Essays on Reality and the Imagination

Source: The Necessary Angel: Essays on Reality and the Imagination

“The people in the world, and the objects in it, and the world as a whole, are not absolute things, but on the contrary, are the phenomena of perception... If we were all alike: if we were millions of people saying do, re, mi, in unison, One poet would be enough... But we are not alone, and everything needs expounding all the time because, as people live and die, each one perceiving life and death for himself, and mostly by and in himself, there develops a curiosity about the perceptions of others. This is what makes it possible to go on saying new things about old things.”

“People ought to like poetry the way a child likes snow & they would if poets wrote it.”

People Ifs Way Should Children Poet Likes Snow

Author:Wallace Stevens

“The poet is the priest of the invisible.”

Poetry Poet Invisible Priests Poetry Is Great Poetry Poetry By Poets

Author:Wallace Stevens

“The poet makes silk dresses out of worms.”

Poetry Poet Dresses Worms Silk

Author:Wallace Stevens

“Perhaps there is a degree of perception at which what is real and what is imagines are one: a state of clairvoyant observation, accessible or possibly accessible to the poet or, say, the acutest poet.”

Real States Poetry Imagine Poet Degrees Perception Observation Clairvoyant

Author:Wallace Stevens

About the Author

Born: October 2, 1879
Died: August 2, 1955
Known for: Poet
Quotes: 300

Related Topics

World Poetry Imagination Mind Poet Men Ifs Reality People Poetry Is Night Wind Sky Winter Desire Should Snow Sun Tree Way

Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

The Collected Poems of Wallace StevensRelated source material

The Palm at the End of the Mind: Selected Poems and a PlayRelated source material

Opus Posthumous: Poems, Plays, ProseRelated source material

The Necessary Angel: Essays on Reality and the ImaginationRelated source material

Letters of Wallace StevensRelated source material

Collected Poetry and ProseRelated source material

Selected poemsRelated source material

The Emperor of Ice-Cream and Other PoemsRelated source material

The Collected PoemsRelated source material

HarmoniumRelated source material

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