Scan barcode
casparb's review against another edition
WS's debut collection and in many ways a hit from the beginning. I'm aware of a few who say that Harmonium hasn't aged well - or at least that it's a lot more difficult to see it as revolutionary these days as compared to 1923. Probably that's true to certain extents though I think it's helpful to have read something like Williams' Spring and All for context. But Stevens is brilliant and this collection, early as it is, draws that out. He sounds such a poet of jazz to me too, modal jazz. I played some Coltrane with it & would recommend. He has a mind embedded in the classical etymology which he flashes at times ("Vocalissimus") but elsewhere he's working at something resembling the slow introduction of Japanese poetry to American lit in the early 20th - as in the classic Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird. Has any poet since thought so explicitly on the concept of anecdotal Form?
He's My Guy when he's at the sea. His monisms bleed into each other
He's My Guy when he's at the sea. His monisms bleed into each other
gijs's review against another edition
4.0
Some gems to be found in this volume;
from 'Six significant landscapes'
Not all the knives of the lamp-posts,
Nor the chisels of the long streets,
Nor the mallets of the domes
And high towers,
Can carve
What one star can carve,
Shining through the grape-leaves.
from 'Six significant landscapes'
Not all the knives of the lamp-posts,
Nor the chisels of the long streets,
Nor the mallets of the domes
And high towers,
Can carve
What one star can carve,
Shining through the grape-leaves.
cryo_guy's review against another edition
3.0
This was pretty decent. I mostly liked the nature poems and some are real bangers like 13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird and The Wind Shifts. There was a bit to trudge through for me though. I didn't always love Stevens' attempt at being playful with language or to exercise his vocabulary. Someone compared Le Monocle de Mon Oncle to Eliot's J Alfred Prufrock, but I don't think it's as good at all. The long poem in here The Comedian as the letter C is kind of interesting. I feel like if I wanted to get more out of this collection I would need to do some research. So I guess all in all, just a smattering of good poems, the rest I don't have too much to say about.
ifpoetshadmerch's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars
Perhaps this is too general of a compliment, but Wallace Stevens understands language. He plays with sound and images, and is able to use both successfully as building blocks in his poetry. Even with simple words, he is able to create a sense of lyricism that both dazzles and bewilders the reader. I like the way he uses permutation and repetition throughout his poems, often reiterating and redirecting at once. Also, Harmonium has one of my favorite lines of poetry in "Disillusionment of Ten O'Clock," "Only, here and there, an old sailor,/ drunk and asleep in his boots,/ catches tigers/ in red weather."
Still, I'm only giving it 3.5 stars because I don't necessarily feel like there's much coherence in the collection, and I definitely enjoyed some poems more than others... I just didn't have the energy to deconstruct every word he chose.
Perhaps this is too general of a compliment, but Wallace Stevens understands language. He plays with sound and images, and is able to use both successfully as building blocks in his poetry. Even with simple words, he is able to create a sense of lyricism that both dazzles and bewilders the reader. I like the way he uses permutation and repetition throughout his poems, often reiterating and redirecting at once. Also, Harmonium has one of my favorite lines of poetry in "Disillusionment of Ten O'Clock," "Only, here and there, an old sailor,/ drunk and asleep in his boots,/ catches tigers/ in red weather."
Still, I'm only giving it 3.5 stars because I don't necessarily feel like there's much coherence in the collection, and I definitely enjoyed some poems more than others... I just didn't have the energy to deconstruct every word he chose.
noe_mireille's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
4.25
read only parts of this tbh
my fav was sunday morning
my fav was sunday morning
luckyboxes's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
Stevens is a very talented poet but I found myself unable to appreciate most of the poems. However, the ones that resonated with me were great with Emperor of Ice-Cream being a stand out.
baumrinr's review against another edition
5.0
Beautiful and mysterious collection of modern poetry. I loved this emotional and intellectual experience.