Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Wallace Stevens’ "Add This to Rhetoric" is a meditation on art, nature, and the human impulse to impose order or meaning on the world. The poem explores the distinction between natural phenomena and artistic representations, emphasizing the transience of human constructs compared to the organic continuity of nature. Through layered imagery and reflective tone, Stevens examines the inherent tension between creation and interpretation, culminating in a statement on the nature of artistic endeavor.

The poem opens with the juxtaposition of nature and artifice: “It is posed and it is posed. / But in nature it merely grows.” Here, Stevens establishes a key theme: the difference between what is naturally occurring and what humans arrange. The repetition of "posed" underscores the deliberate, constructed nature of human expression, whether in language, art, or gesture. By contrast, nature’s growth is spontaneous and unselfconscious, unburdened by the need for interpretation or symbolism.

Stevens uses evocative imagery to highlight the passive, enduring presence of natural and constructed objects alike: “Stones pose in the falling night; / And beggars dropping to sleep.” Both stones and beggars, seemingly disparate elements, are unified in their stillness and vulnerability. This equality challenges hierarchical distinctions between the natural and the human-made, suggesting a shared condition of existence.

The poem transitions to the act of artistic creation, represented through painting: “The buildings pose in the sky / And, as you paint, the clouds.” Here, Stevens critiques the artist’s imposition of form and interpretation on what is inherently formless or fleeting. The use of “pose” implies an artificial stillness, a deliberate attempt to fix what is naturally dynamic. The painter arranges and idealizes, but Stevens subtly questions the value of such attempts when the original subject—the clouds, the sky—is transient and beyond human control.

Stevens then introduces a shift with the abrupt, dismissive “Pftt.” This interjection punctures the self-seriousness of artistic endeavor, reminding readers of its impermanence: “To-morrow when the sun. / For all your images, / Comes up as the sun, bull fire.” The sun’s inevitable rise eclipses all human artifice, obliterating “your images” and their lingering shadows. This moment captures the ephemerality of art compared to the enduring cycles of nature.

In the latter part of the poem, Stevens focuses on the act of posing itself as a metaphor for artistic creation and human expression. “The poses of speech, of paint, / Of music” are all framed as conscious attempts to articulate or embody experience. Yet, these constructs are fleeting, vulnerable to dissolution: “Your images will have left / No shadow of themselves.” Art is shown to be a reflection, not an enduring reality.

The poem takes a poignant turn with the introduction of a reclining figure: “Her body lies / Worn out, her arm falls down. / Her fingers touch the ground.” The image of exhaustion and physical surrender contrasts with earlier abstractions, grounding the poem in human fragility. Above the figure is “the moon without a shape,” a symbol of the eternal and undefined, watching over the transient and finite.

Stevens concludes with a philosophical statement on the nature of art: “The sense creates the pose. / In this it moves and speaks. / This is the figure and not / An evading metaphor.” Here, Stevens affirms that meaning arises from perception and articulation, not from the objects themselves. The “pose” becomes a way of engaging with reality, an effort to communicate experience. Yet, Stevens rejects the idea of art as mere metaphor, insisting instead on its capacity to embody truths, however ephemeral they may be.

The final line, “Add this. It is to add,” serves as both a directive and an acknowledgment. Art, for Stevens, does not replace or transcend nature but supplements it, adding layers of understanding and engagement. This additive quality captures the essence of human creativity—an ongoing attempt to grasp and express the ineffable.

"Add This to Rhetoric" encapsulates Stevens’ complex relationship with art and reality. Through its interplay of natural and artistic imagery, the poem interrogates the limitations and possibilities of human expression. While art may be impermanent and constructed, it is also a vital means of interacting with the world, a gesture of adding meaning to the vast, indifferent processes of nature.

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