Glosses
Harmonium
Harmonium was published by Alfred A. Knopf in September 1923, with a second, slightly enlarged edition in 1931. The 1923 edition is dedicated âTo my wife,â and the 1931 edition âTo my wife and Holly.â Later collections bear no dedications. The 1923 collection gathers together sixty-eight poems published from 1915 to 1922 (C49âC79 in Morse, Bryer, and Riddel). Three poems from 1923 were cut in the second edition, âThe Silver Plough-Boyâ (OP 17, LOA 42), âExposition of the Contents of a Cabâ (OP 41, LOA 52), and âArchitectureâ (OP 37â39, LOA 66â67). The Collected Poems (1954) reprints the 1931 edition, where the 1923 poems end with âNomad Exquisiteâ (CP 95), followed by fourteen additional poems, then by âTeaâ and âTo the Roaring Wind,â which end both editions.
Stevensâs subsequent collections generally publish most poems in approximate chronological order, but this one does not. A 1915 poem, âTea,â is the penultimate poem in both editions, while the latest poem chronologically, âFloral Decorations for Bananas,â appears about halfway through. The order of the opening poems is skilfully designed. The overall order conceals Stevensâs growing sense of frustration and malaise, most evident in the long poem, âThe Comedian as the Letter C,â which was rewritten and much expanded in the summer of 1922 (L 229), but appears about a third of the way through Harmonium. (See also the note to âThe Snow Man.â)
The harmonium is a musical instrument invented about 1840, âa keyboard instrument, the tones of which are produced by free metal âreedsâ, tongues or vibratorsâ, actuated by a current of air from bellows, usually worked by treadles; a kind of reed-organâ (OED; for more information, see EB, âharmoniumâ). It is a good word for poetry, given the longstanding tropes of pastoral reeds, the reeds of Pan et cetera, for poetry, as well as the organ-tropes of Milton, Dickinson, and others. The word is derived from Greek and Latin harmonia, so that it also suggests questions of harmony, including the older idea of the harmony of the universe, as it moves in accordance with the unheard heavenly music of the spheres. Note especially the next sentence in the OED: âStrictly distinguished from the American organ by the fact that the air is driven outwards through the reed-pipes, whereas in the latter it is sucked inwards; but the name is sometimes extended to include the American organ.â This means that the word is also a happy trope for American poetry in 1923, because it distinguishes it in kind from British poetry. The troping of musical instruments runs throughout Stevensâs work, on which see Hollander in Buttel and Doggett. (On his wifeâs piano and her accomplished playing, see the biography.) Stevensâs first title was âThe Grand Poem: Preliminary Minutiaeâ (L 237â38, 1923), which Knopf wisely discouraged; he wanted to subtitle his Collected Poems âThe Whole of Harmoniumâ (L 831), but it did not happen.
Earthy Anecdote
Modern School 5 (July 1918), also in Others 5 (July 1919) with âLife Is Motion,â another Oklahoma poem; CP 3, LOA 3.
To open, a poem with a distinctive Stevens flavor, and a distinctive American voice and place. Generally, this is a poem about two different kinds of energy encountering each other, often read as a fable about nature and art. Specifically, it is a fable or, more precisely, an anecdote that lends itself to different plots, as does âPlot against the Giant,â three poems later. Stevens said there was no symbolism in the poem, but added that there was âa good deal of theory about itâ (L 204, 1918). On possible âtheory,â see notes on the title and on âOklahomaâ below. Stevensâs sinuous free verse works with skilful repetition and enjambment; the bucksâ âswift, circular line[s]â also describe themselves as poetic lines.
TITLE: âEarthyâ: of the earth, rather than gross; see Stevensâs important remarks on âthe great poem of the earthâ (NA 142, LOA 730, 1948). Harmonium opens with the word âearthy,â and both editions close with âTo the Roaring Wind,â an invocation to the element of air. Traditional invocations come at the beginning, and call on the Muse for inspiration. Stevens has changed the order. Though the opening six poems in Harmonium do not invoke the Muse, they all focus on muse or genius loci figures that are both earthy and American.
âAnecdoteâ: beyond the common meaning, âa secret or private, hitherto-unpublished narrativeâ; Stevens worked with this minor genre in 1918â20. (See titles CP 51, 55, 57, 76; OP 31, 43; LOA 41, 44, 46, 60, 539, 550. See also âanecdotalâ CP 13, LOA 11, and âanecdote,â CP 45, LOA 36, 37.) The Concordance shows no other uses of the word beyond these dates.
âbucksâ: Stevens objected to an illustration of his poem that resembled âoriginal chaos,â whereas he had in mind âsomething quite concrete: actual animalsâ (L 209, 1918).
âclatteringâ: not usually a sound made by bucks, who more often graze or gallop.
âOver Oklahomaâ: an oddly skewed preposition that distances this poem from realistic narrative, moving its âactual animalsâ toward tale or fable, generically anecdote. The word âOklahomaâ functions in this generic context, while also recalling history. (On Oklahomaâs turbulent history, especially in Stevensâs lifetime, see, e.g., Dictionary of American History, ed. Cutler.) As an Indian name, said to mean âred menâ or âland of red men,â Oklahoma also evokes the tragic Indian history of this area. As an old name and a new state (1907), Oklahoma embodies the paradox of old and new in one (cf. âOklahomanâ in OE XVI). Rhetorically, âOklahomaâ echoes the kâââcla of âbucks clatteringâ in a sound scheme, one of many schemes on place-names in Stevens.
âfirecatâ: though an actual animal (L 209), mysterious and still resisting simple identification. (Minor Indian legends tell of a cougar or mountain lion who brings either helpful or destructive fire. Recent retellings use the word âfirecat,â but the relevant Smithsonian historical volumes on the American Indian do not record the word.) Cf. the force of poetry or of the spirit as a lion or cat in MBG XIX, âPoetry Is a Destructive Force,â OE XI, etc.
Invective against Swans
Contact 2 (Jan. 1921), with âInfanta Marinaâ; CP 4, LOA 3â4.
Oddly, no swan appears in this invective against swans. Or not so oddly, for the poemâs silent premise is âAll your swans are geese.â As elsewhere (CP 142â45, 342â43, 397; LOA 115â17, 299â300, 343), swans are associated with stale or dead conventions. No fertile earth exists in these Old-World-style parks. In contrast to âEarthy Anecdote,â this poem uses couplets in regular iambic pentameter, some rhyme, imitative older syntax (e.g., âwhich that time enduresâ), i.e., it is an old-style poem.
TITLE: again the title identifies the genre, again a minor genre.
âA bronze rain from the sunâ: an aged, autumnal version of Zeus visiting DanaĂ« in an impregnating shower of gold. The old gods now lack potency.
âPaphianâ: the swan, like the dove, is the bird of Venus.
âchilly chariotsâ: Venus has a chariot drawn by swans; âchillyâ wittily revises such standard tropes as âsnowy chariot.â
In the Carolinas
Soil 1 (Jan. 1917), as part of âIn the South,â Pt. II of âPrimordiaâ; CP 4â5, LOA 4.
While the Carolinas may be a fertile part of the earth, the âTimeless Motherâ here (Mother Nature?) is not always welcoming. As with the opening poem, this is a small poem that implies a good deal. A quatrain, then a tercet, then a couplet, all unrhymed, are cast as a short dialogue.
âaspic nipples / ⊠ventâ: not the usual food (breast-milk), but playing between a nourishing meat-jelly and a sense of death; cf. the deadly asp or aspic that Cleopatra laid on her breasts (Antony and Cleopatra V.II.233ff.). The snaky verb âventâ is in charge. In contrast to a nourishing alma mater, Stevens suggests an aspera, or bitter, mother. (Cf....