Saturday, December 17, 2005

The Snow Man

A few weeks ago, I looked up on the train to see an excerpt of a Stevens poem on one of those poetry underground posters. I began to read it and then gave up. I admitted to myself that I just don’t really like Stevens and, with great relief, decided to mentally shelve him.

Now, last week, both Amardeep and Ana Maria posted really interesting readings of “The Snow Man.” Amardeep’s is great for its sensible approach to unpacking a text that’s difficult, oft-studied, and therefore intimidating; Ana Maria just dives right in with a theme—the poem’s interest in the terror of death, the intensity of grief.

I guess Stevens is back on my list of worthies.

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