Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Robert Creeley’s "Thinking of Wallace Stevens" meditates on identity, memory, and the inevitable estrangement that comes with the passage of time, while serving as an homage to Stevens’ philosophical and poetic legacy. In its tone, the poem mirrors Stevens’ own complex interplay of abstraction and intimacy, offering a deeply introspective reflection on personal history and the role of artistic ambition.

The opening lines set a melancholic tone, as the speaker grapples with the strangeness of the “familiar” and the alienation from his own physical self. “The hands / one was born with even more remote, the feet / worn to discordant abilities” evokes a growing disconnect from the body, as if time has rendered even the most intrinsic aspects of existence foreign. This estrangement deepens in the subsequent lines, where the speaker reflects on the erosion of the self, describing the face as “fainter.” The intimate decay echoes Stevens’ preoccupation with the impermanence of physical forms and the persistence of the mind in constructing meaning.

The reference to “Esmeralda” and “darling Bill” introduces an element of longing, blending affection with nostalgia. While these figures remain enigmatic, they embody a connection to the speaker’s past, one marked by both love and distance. The use of “ambience of the others” and “clotted crowds” contrasts personal intimacy with the broader, impersonal experiences of social life. The crowd’s “clotted” nature suggests a suffocating density, in opposition to the emptiness the speaker feels within—a recurring motif of void and solitude that resonates with Stevens’ poetic explorations of existential detachment.

Creeley’s imagery of a “fountain in winter” and a “battered nonentity” underscores this interior desolation. The fountain, frozen and dormant, symbolizes a stifled potential, while the drab park evokes a space of neglect. Together, they form a landscape of emotional barrenness, echoing Stevens’ frequent use of winter as a metaphor for spiritual or imaginative stagnation.

The speaker’s existential questioning emerges in the line, “Can I say the whole was my desire?” This interrogation recalls Stevens’ philosophical musings on the nature of fulfillment and the limitations of human aspiration. The speaker’s “single purpose,” reiterated but elusive, mirrors the tension between ambition and the inescapable limitations of the self. The self-awareness that “No one can know me better than myself” grows bitter as it acknowledges the monotony of proximity to one’s own being—a sentiment Creeley frames as “tedious.”

The line “The joy was always to know it was the joy” introduces a self-referential moment of clarity. It suggests that awareness of joy, rather than the experience itself, becomes the essence of fulfillment. This introspection ties closely to Stevens’ poetic premise that the act of imagining, of creating meaning through art, holds more significance than the imagined outcome. Yet, the joy of creation is undercut by the inevitability of acquiescence to “one’s preeminent premise,” implying an artistic will to impose order on chaos even as it falters under the strain of repetition.

The closing lines bring the poem into a quieter, more contemplative register. The image of the candle flickering “in the quick, shifting wind” evokes the fragility of both life and perception. The candle’s ability to “read the weather wisely” suggests an acceptance of change and instability, embodying a wisdom that aligns with Stevens’ philosophical inquiries into impermanence and the fleeting nature of existence.

The final stanza crystallizes the poem’s central paradox: “So it is the dullness of mind one cannot live without, / this place returned to, this place that was never left.” The “dullness of mind” alludes to the grounding effect of routine and familiarity, even as these qualities breed alienation. The “place” referenced here functions both literally and metaphorically—representing the constancy of home, memory, or creative identity. That it is “returned to” yet “never left” encapsulates the inescapable loop of human experience, where progress and stagnation, change and constancy, coexist in tension.

Creeley’s poem reflects Stevens’ influence not only in its thematic engagement with time, identity, and abstraction but also in its cadence and tone. The fragmented reflections and understated language evoke a philosophical depth characteristic of Stevens, while the personal inflection marks Creeley’s distinct voice. In "Thinking of Wallace Stevens," Creeley honors his predecessor’s legacy while exploring his own meditative terrain, crafting a work that resonates as both homage and introspection.

Copyright (c) 2025 PoetryExplorer

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!

Other Poems of Interest...