Wallace Stevens: A Spiritual Poet in a Secular Age

by Charles M. Murphy, Wallace Stevens

This study of the poetry of poet-businessman Wallace Stevenson focuses on his works that reveal a constant search for religion.

Genres: Literary Criticism

129 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1997

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 1 out of 5]

Somone had left this book behind on the sale shelves at Powells and I thought "what an interesting and lucky find!" Unfortunately, I began reading it and found the author was a Catholic who assumed Stevens' spirituality meant God, with a capital G, when in fact there is a bunch of doubt about his 11th hour deathbed conversion. I found this book very redctive and so didn't really read it at all to be honest. I did scan the whole thing and did find a few interesting anecdotes about his life and some comparisons to other (albeit Catholic) interesting thinkers. Personally, if any capital-G god finds outlets in his poetry I is closer to many Eastern spiritual eliefs. The one thing I did get out of this is that it got me to pick up The Necessary Angel again, which is superb.

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I discovered an old commuter train ticket in the book, and passages I had marked. I hadn't remembered that I had read the book some years ago. I admit that I still need guidance to enjoy most of Steven's poems.