| Idea and Imagination in the Order of Wallace Stevens Essay by Leonard J. Cirino In the Introduction to his fine book of poems, Binoculars, Phillip Corwin states, "Poets have theories of poetry, quite naturally. As for myself, I believe in 'Two Eye' poetry, poetry that respects the two eyes of Intelligence and Intelligibility. Binocular poetry one might say. A poem should be intelligent and a poem should be intelligible. Most modern poetry is either obscure or trivial. Often what masquerades as poetry is a series of words strung together with references so esoteric that the text has no meaning... Or we have lyric verse about events so trivial that they never rise above the level of gossip. Common events and common experiences may, indeed, be a subject for poetry, but they must be transmuted through the poet's imagination to achieve transcendence." This is a fine definition of what poetry should be and what it has become in the practice of modern verse. Given the lack of substance in much contemporary poetry I am not surprised at the limited audience which we poets are speaking to, and especially, who we speak for and with, in today's world. Corwin's assertion that a poem should be intelligent, as well as intelligible, is a modification of poetics based on the Preface of 1798 by Coleridge and Wordsworth. But, I don't always want a poem to be immediately understandable. Often I look for underlying values and meanings, a sense of mystery, and a complexity of ideas and images that do not always make a spontaneous impact, except in my subconscious. One problem with modern verse is that it is not demanding enough. Although there are practitioners who are so obscure (John Ashbery and most of the L*A*N*G*U*A*G*E poets for example) that I don't feel the necessity to plow through much of their work because the ultimate reward is of so little importance. On the other hand, I've spent over 35 years reading and digesting the work of Wallace Stevens, and the older I get, the more familiar I become with each poem, the more comprehension I obtain, and the more infatuated I become with his verse. For me, it is an unending combination of psyche and spirit, of spirituality versus materialism, of the great achievement we gain by leading lives that question and demand more than the immediate, gratuitous answers so much of the modern world depends upon and congratulates itself for. "So much depends on" the poet's interpretation of the world outside, but not at the cost or exception of the worlds inside. As Stevens states in his Opus Posthumous, "We have to step boldly into man's interior world or not at all," and, "Reality is not what it is. It consists of the many realities which it can be made into." The basis of much quality poetry in general, and Stevens in specific, is also a "Binocular" approach to poetry. But I would substitute the words Imagination and Idea for Intelligence and Intelligibility. Stevens lived in a different condition than most other peoples, and even poets. His was a world of Imagination and Idea superimposed on the exterior world, as a reflection of the domain within, "Imagination is the only genius." His devout understanding of Ideas and Things, that most others consider difficult or incomprehensible, is thoroughly contained and clearly defined both in his poems and his statements of poetics: "What is there in life except one's ideas..." Idea and Imagination are the foundations of his aesthetic. "The imagination is the liberty of the mind and hence the liberty of reality." He builds a framework of unusual images and metaphors with the skill of a master mason and then completes them with the finest finish materials available. Almost every poem is a cathedral (or a bench) equivalent to the greatest architecture, with the dignity and originality of a Gaudi. Apparently this has brought to his legacy much disfavor and a lack of interest by today's poets. He is often spoken of in terms of "abstraction" by those who have never read him, or not read him closely, and without the compassion with which he treats all his subjects, whether transitory or material. For all the poets who espouse the simplicities of Whitman, Pound, and W.C. Williams, I suggest they go back and study The ABC of Reading and Spring And All, then do some real work on their approach to the written word. A poem should be challenging, for there are no easy answers to the conditions we live in, especially throughout our chaotic world. If one is looking for simplistics they will not find them in Stevens. For, as he says, "Reality is the object seen in its greatest common sense." And common sense has been reduced to the buying and selling of products. However, on thorough examination of Stevens' poems, I discover a unique and passionate voice regarding the human condition, and the use of Idea and Imagination that transcends much of the material world, bypasses the mundane and everyday, and takes me into a state of mystery examined in an astute, reflective way, by a master of 20th century verse. True, the path to comprehend even his vocabulary, as well as his insightful thinking process, is not easy. But once I learned to surrender myself to his voice, conclusions and insights I never thought possible became a transforming initiation into spheres beyond those, which I had ever imagined. "The world of the poet depends on the world that he has contemplated." If fewer poets were obsessed with trying to make their work simplistic enough to be readily marketable, and engaged themselves in the studies of metaphysics and aesthetics and how they relate to the human condition, then maybe a few of them could stand at the feet of Stevens and hope to say that they had tried to become real poets and not the fast-talking, too easily assimilable products of a society gone mad with the prospect of material riches, without a clue as to the value and intrinsic worth of the unknown, except by a few, with their exacting study and rigorous discipline. As Stevens says, "Poetry is often a revelation of the elements of appearance," and "Reality is the spirit's true center." Sad to say those beliefs have become almost worthless in today's literary and poetic circles. But I believe that art is more complex than its material value, that the qualities of compassion, devotion, and a loss of self within the intuitions of one's work, will outlast any fast-food commodity pressed upon us by the purveyors of modern trends, probably to the exclusion of monetary rewards. Many people are searching for some solution beyond the average aspects to their lives. Their answers run the gamut from self-help books and pop-psychologists, to the earnest study of religion and self-analysis. I believe in the "Proposita: 1. God and the imagination are one." Or, if you will, "Man is the imagination or the imagination is man." All quotes except those from Corwin's Introduction and "So much depends on..." from W.C. Williams' poem The Red Wheelbarrow, are from Wallace Stevens. HOME PAGE & ARCHIVES
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