The Whole Harmonium: The Life of Wallace StevensAn “incandescent….redefining biography of a major poet whose reputation continues to ascend” (Booklist, starred review)—Wallace Stevens, perhaps the most important American poet of the twentieth century. Wallace Stevens (1879-1955) lived a richly imaginative life that he expressed in his poems. “A biography that is both deliciously readable and profoundly knowledgeable” (Library Journal, starred review), The Whole Harmonium presents Stevens within the living context of his times and as the creator of a poetry that continues to shape how we understand and define ourselves. A lawyer who rose to become an insurance-company vice president, Stevens composed brilliant poems on long walks to work and at other stolen moments. He endured an increasingly unhappy marriage, and yet he had his Dionysian side, reveling in long fishing (and drinking) trips to the sun-drenched tropics of Key West. He was at once both the Connecticut businessman and the hidalgo lover of all things Latin. His first book of poems, Harmonium, published when he was forty-four, drew on his profound understanding of Modernism to create a distinctive and inimitable American idiom. Over time he became acquainted with peers such as Robert Frost and William Carlos Williams, but his personal style remained unique. The complexity of Stevens’s poetry rests on emotional, philosophical, and linguistic tensions that thread their way intricately through his poems, both early and late. And while he can be challenging to understand, Stevens has proven time and again to be one of the most richly rewarding poets to read. Biographer and poet Paul Mariani’s The Whole Harmonium “is an excellent, superb, thrilling story of a mind….unpacking poems in language that is nearly as eloquent as the poet’s, and as clear as faithfulness allows” (The New Yorker). |
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Allen Tate American April Arensberg asked August Barbara Church Brazeau called composed Crispin dark death December Duchamp Elsie’s everything father feel finally Garrett going Harmonium Harriet Monroe Hartford Harvard he’d heaven Henry Church Holly Ideas of Order imagination Jim Powers John José Rodríguez Feo journal entry July June Key West Knopf later Letters living look March Marianne Moore McGreevy meant mind months morning mother night once one’s painting Paule Vidal philosopher Pitts Sanborn poem poet poet’s poetry published Reading reality Ronald Latimer seemed sense singing sound Stevens wrote Stevens’s Street summer Supreme Fiction things Thomas McGreevy thought told turned Vechten walked Wallace Stevens wanted weeks William Carlos Williams woman words write WS to Barbara WS to Elsie WS to Harriet WS to Ronald York young