I come into this class with a new brain and a new train of thought. For the first time in a while my ears and eyes have been peeled back and uncovered a new delicate worm that could or not could fruition into something beautiful and divine. Upon hearing and listening to the poems of Stevens I have pierced into a reality that I find strange and delightful. The musings of a madman maybe? Or the enquiries of a realist?
To see the beauty in this life we have to find the beauty. There is no one that does this better than Stevens. Not only does he find the beauty in nature he transposes this fluidity and natural sense into the words. We feel the beauty, in the same way that we feel the beauty in music or art. We can't rationalize it or deliberate over it, we let it flow through us and around us, we lose ourselves in it's sweetness and sting. Each word flows together in harmony and the more we give in, the more harmonious the work becomes. To understand Stevens work is to lose ourselves in the sound and imagery of the work. It is to imagine what each scene looks like and how each color tastes and smells. It is the world of imagination, where firecats are an everyday occurrence and we have the chance to dine with emperors and sultans. To uncover the hidden symbolism of Steven's work is the next challenge for me but one that I will take on ardently. For to understand this man's mind and reality, might be to uncover the true nature of being.