Everything is complicated; if that were not so, life and poetry and everything else would be a bore.
Wallace StevensRead
After one has abandoned a belief in God, poetry is that essence which takes its place as life's redemption.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that poetry can fulfill the role of spirituality or redemption in a person's life after losing faith in God.
Wallace Stevens implies that once someone relinquishes their belief in a higher power, poetry emerges as a crucial source of meaning and solace. In this view, poetry serves as a substitute for spiritual belief, offering insights into the human experience and a form of redemption that can inspire and uplift individuals navigating a secular world. It emphasizes the power of art and creativity in providing existential comfort and understanding.
Themes
PoetryRedemptionBeliefArtSpirituality
In practice
Example use cases
In a personal reflection on creativity, one might quote Stevens to emphasize the importance of poetry in their life.
More from Wallace Stevens
All quotes βMost modern reproducers of life, even including the camera, really repudiate it. We gulp down evil, choke at good.
Wallace StevensRead
Why should she give her bounty to the dead? What is divinity if it can come Only in silent shadows and in dreams?
Wallace StevensRead
LIGHT FROM WITHIN my friend, cancer got you damn it: you had it beat for seven years at least. how did it come back? Why all that pain. again. and you, such a fighter you fought me over and over with tears and words and promises. you fought for me with honesty and a light so bright it hurts my heart. sweet lorna. at peace now finally no more battles, just light from within a flickering candle in the dark burns with you.
Wallace StevensRead
Unfortunately there is nothing more inane than an Easter carol. It is a religious perversion of the activity of Spring in our blood.
Wallace StevensRead
Compare the silent rose of the sun And rain, the blood-rose living in its smell, With this paper, this dust. That states the point.
Wallace StevensRead
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