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The poem of the mind in the act of finding
What will suffice. It has not always had
To find: the scene was set; it repeated what
Was in the script.
The poem of the mind in the act of findingWhat will suffice. It has not always had
To find: the scene was set; it repeated what
Was in the script.
3
Then the theatre was changed
To something else. Its past was a souvenir.
It has to be living, to learn the speech of the place.
It has to face the men of the time and to meet
The women of the time. It has to think about war
And it has to find what will suffice. It has
To construct a new stage. It has to be on that stage
And, like an insatiable actor, slowly and
With meditation, speak words that in the ear,
In the delicatest ear of the mind, repeat,
Exactly, that which it wants to hear, at the sound
Of which, an invisible audience listens,
Not to the play, but to itself, expressed
In an emotion as of two people, as of two
Emotions becoming one. The actor is
A metaphysician in the dark, twanging
An instrument, twanging a wiry string that gives
Sounds passing through sudden rightnesses, wholly
Containing the mind, below which it cannot descend,
Beyond which it has no will to rise.
Then the theatre was changedTo something else. Its past was a souvenir.
It has to be living, to learn the speech of the place.
It has to face the men of the time and to meet
The women of the time. It has to think about war
And it has to find what will suffice. It has
To construct a new stage. It has to be on that stage
And, like an insatiable actor, slowly and
With meditation, speak words that in the ear,
In the delicatest ear of the mind, repeat,
Exactly, that which it wants to hear, at the sound
Of which, an invisible audience listens,
Not to the play, but to itself, expressed
In an emotion as of two people, as of two
Emotions becoming one. The actor is
A metaphysician in the dark, twanging
An instrument, twanging a wiry string that gives
Sounds passing through sudden rightnesses, wholly
Containing the mind, below which it cannot descend,
Beyond which it has no will to rise.
4
It must
Be the finding of a satisfaction, and may
Be of a man skating, a woman dancing, a woman
Combing. The poem of the act of the mind.
It mustBe the finding of a satisfaction, and may
Be of a man skating, a woman dancing, a woman
Combing. The poem of the act of the mind.
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This is my favorite Wallace Stevens poem. He, with words, beautifully describes life and poetry and commands the imagination to work by giving us a scene :a literal “act” of the mind. He is describing the mind itself as an object that grows, changes, moves, breathes, challenges, and embodies the word “act” not only in the theatrical term but as the first part of the most important word in our life ACTION. In the beginning of the poem he speaks of complacency “a script” of life settling for “what will suffice” -but the act writing poetry itself has inspired him to physically seek out more than the “sufficient.” Poetry must be what ACTions inspire happiness – “skating,” “dancing” “combing.” He discovers that the mind (and the actions and scenes it imagines that bring “satisfaction” to it) is a poem….does that make sense?
[Reply]
Nicholas Evans Reply:
October 22nd, 2009 at 11:06 am
I have to say that I agree to a certain extent, just no where near as passionate about it, sorry. Because of the way the mind is built and how it works, it can be objectified and sometimes personified as another person. Poetry, like life events can change the mind and set people on certain paths. I am not one of those people, but there are some of you out there.
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Stevens’ portrayal of a ‘poem of the mind’ seems incredible at the least. He weaves in and out of the poem, the very beauty of poetry, while describing poetry itself. As he demands what must be contained within a poem, he also describes what a poem should look and feel like. After reading this, it makes the reader dare to think he/she could write their own poem, and yet gasp at their own ego to think they could write something as powerful and deep as Stevens.
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Poetry as a whole has grabbed me, but not to the extent to where I’m completely in love with it. It is indeed an outlet for my feelings to be laid, but there are other things that I use for that purpose as well. Plus I have a short attention span, so if the poem doesn’t grab me immediately, I lose interest.
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i would have to agree with St. Hope and say that this poem really does not grab my attention for i would not be the finding of satisfaction with it.
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I think that he is saying that modern poetry is how we percieve it. Put the poem in our head and try to act it out with different backdrops and scenes from our lives trying to see where it would fit in in our lives.
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