월러스 스티븐스의 초기시 세편 읽기 = A Reading of Wallace Stevens`s Three Early Poems

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The purpose of this paper is to examine three of Wallace Stevens`s early poems, all of which are from his first collection, Harmonium. Most of Stevens`s works are philosophical, but the three poems I select from this early collection are particularly appropriate for discussing what I perceive to be three representative features of his philosophical outlook. Stevens as a poet had a rather annoying wish to discover how a matter reveals itself. Domination of Blackas an example of the first feature reflects Stevens`s desire to grasp the essential reality of things and the consequent need to escape from the worlds of common symbols and experiences. This poem is a witness to a completely new poetic configuration. In line with such an attempt, Stevens sends from his world of poetry a message about how his own age is in crisis, expressing a serious distrust of reality. However, in order not to remain as a mere victim of reality, the poet explores its ultimate nature, its finality. Such a tendency characterizes the The Snow Manwhich is offered as an appropriate example of the second feature of Stevens`s` early poems. A mere exploration still does not satisfy the terms of poetry in this changing world. The third feature which I find in The Emperor of Ice-Cream suggests poetic means to create truth and significance of being. In order to be involved with the intrinsic nature of things, the poet, Stevens argues, needs to willingly give up the ordinary reality. Such a surrender is experienced not as tragedy but as a development of intuition from within.