Rating: 
Summary: "Not Ideas About the Thing But the Thing Itself"
Review: Wallace Stevens' poetry both continues and extends the Western Humanistic tradition that places the human mind as the measure of all things. Stevens uses language not to depict the things of the world but to proclaim the mind's sense of being in the world. Stevens' language is often difficult, and his aesthetic defies simplistic explanation. Stevens is best understood by a mind that refuses to be taken into the conventional sense of things, but rather comes to sense the moments of the imagination and the life that is lived in them. What is known is not thing as idea, but knowledge in each moment as the life lived in the place. This seeking after a "Plain Sense of things" underlies most, if not all, of what Stevens writes. Anyone interested in difficult poetry that continually repays their efforts in full will want to have a copy of this book. Of course, there are more complete additions of Stevens poetry now available. You may want to check those out too.
Rating:
Summary: Imaginitive, Pleasurable Poetry, in the Extreme
Review: Wallace Stevens's poems are full of imagination, perception, humor, wonder, and awe. It is a sheer joy and a sheer pleasure to read this collection of glorious poems.I recommend this landmark work to everybody.
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