Anatomy of Monotony
Encyclopedia
"Anatomy of Monotony" is a poem from the second, 1931, edition
of Wallace Stevens
's first book of poetry,
Harmonium
. Unlike most of
the poems in this collection, it was first published in 1931, so it is
restricted by copyright until 2025 in America and similar
jurisdictions, because of legislation like the
Sonny Bono Copyright Term
Extension Act. However, it is quoted here in full, as justified by
fair use
for the purpose of scholarly commentary.
The poet conceives us as evolving and increasingly civilized products of an
earthly process. Indeed the earth itself is growing and growing old,
while we sport our complex bodies and venture ever more sophisticated
desires. Human experience is a kind of illusion engendered by our
evolved sense organs, vulnerable to "the mother's death" and the cold
death of the universe. The spirit sees this and is aggrieved, for it
would harbor experience in some place that transcends nature, free from
the contingencies of earth and universe.
The poem can be read as ironic, as calling into question the pretension
of `the spirit'. This reading is supported by the naturalistic tenor
of the Harmonium collection as a whole, and specifically by the
parallel of Invective Against Swans
. The
desire for transcendence of nature is one of those "finer, more
implacable chords" that the poet disavows, as also in Sunday Morning
.
of Wallace Stevens
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...
. Unlike most of
the poems in this collection, it was first published in 1931, so it is
restricted by copyright until 2025 in America and similar
jurisdictions, because of legislation like the
Sonny Bono Copyright Term
Extension Act. However, it is quoted here in full, as justified by
fair use
Fair use
Fair use is a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. In United States copyright law, fair use is a doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders...
for the purpose of scholarly commentary.
| Anatomy of Monotony
If from the earth we came, it was an earth That bore us as a part of all things It breeds and that was lewder than it is. Our nature is her nature. Hence it comes, Since by our nature we grow old, earth grows The same. We parallel the mother's death. She walks an autumn ampler than the wind Cries up for us and colder than the frost Pricks in our spirits at the summer's end, And over the bare spaces of our skies She sees a barer sky that does not bend. The body walks forth naked in the sun And, out of tenderness or grief, the sun Gives comfort, so that other bodies come, Twinning our phantasy and our device, And apt in versatile motion, touch and sound To make the body covetous in desire Of the still finer, more implacable chords. So be it. Yet the spaciousness and light In which the body walks and is deceived, Falls from that fatal and barer sky, And this the spirit sees and is aggrieved. |
The poet conceives us as evolving and increasingly civilized products of an
earthly process. Indeed the earth itself is growing and growing old,
while we sport our complex bodies and venture ever more sophisticated
desires. Human experience is a kind of illusion engendered by our
evolved sense organs, vulnerable to "the mother's death" and the cold
death of the universe. The spirit sees this and is aggrieved, for it
would harbor experience in some place that transcends nature, free from
the contingencies of earth and universe.
The poem can be read as ironic, as calling into question the pretension
of `the spirit'. This reading is supported by the naturalistic tenor
of the Harmonium collection as a whole, and specifically by the
parallel of Invective Against Swans
Invective Against Swans
"Invective Against Swans" is a poem by Wallace Stevens from his first book of poetry, Harmonium .-Overview:The poem seems to be an insult poem slamming swans, of all things, calling them ganders and...
. The
desire for transcendence of nature is one of those "finer, more
implacable chords" that the poet disavows, as also in Sunday Morning
Sunday Morning
Sunday Morning may refer to:* "Sunday Morning" , a Canadian radio program formerly aired on CBC Radio One* CBS News Sunday Morning, a television news program on CBS in the United States...
.