The Philosopher’s Poet: Twenty-First-Century Perspectives on Wallace Stevens
This article investigates how the relation between poetry and philosophy is developed in a sample of reflections on the philosophical qualities of the American Modernist poet Wallace Stevens’s work. It offers a critical presentation of a handful of twenty-first-century published responses to Stevens...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Association Française d'Etudes Américaines
2020-12-01
|
| Series: | Transatlantica |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/15268 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1832580757247229952 |
|---|---|
| author | Bart Eeckhout |
| author_facet | Bart Eeckhout |
| author_sort | Bart Eeckhout |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article investigates how the relation between poetry and philosophy is developed in a sample of reflections on the philosophical qualities of the American Modernist poet Wallace Stevens’s work. It offers a critical presentation of a handful of twenty-first-century published responses to Stevens’s poetry emanating from two different quarters: fellow poets and philosophers. The five selected poets (David Baker, Linda Gregerson, Carl Phillips, Stanley Plumly, and Carol Frost) collectively pondered Stevens’s philosophical qualities in a recent issue of the New England Review, while the responses by philosophers Alain Badiou and Peter Hare were published in collections of their essays. The two different angles are investigated precisely because they fall outside mainstream literary criticism on Stevens and help to dramatize several of the difficulties confronted by poets and philosophers seeking to find common ground. By pitting the voices of poets against those of philosophers, the article allows the reader to observe empirically how poets are often wary of addressing Stevens’s philosophical weight except by noting the formal and stylistic enactment of mental activity in his verse, while philosophers sometimes fail to acknowledge the intrinsic nature of lyric thinking, and thus do not always manage to contribute to a deeper understanding of the poetry as such. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-6a53ce9dc5314869ad9ab5db44969fb5 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1765-2766 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2020-12-01 |
| publisher | Association Française d'Etudes Américaines |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Transatlantica |
| spelling | doaj-art-6a53ce9dc5314869ad9ab5db44969fb52025-01-30T10:43:45ZengAssociation Française d'Etudes AméricainesTransatlantica1765-27662020-12-01110.4000/transatlantica.15268The Philosopher’s Poet: Twenty-First-Century Perspectives on Wallace StevensBart EeckhoutThis article investigates how the relation between poetry and philosophy is developed in a sample of reflections on the philosophical qualities of the American Modernist poet Wallace Stevens’s work. It offers a critical presentation of a handful of twenty-first-century published responses to Stevens’s poetry emanating from two different quarters: fellow poets and philosophers. The five selected poets (David Baker, Linda Gregerson, Carl Phillips, Stanley Plumly, and Carol Frost) collectively pondered Stevens’s philosophical qualities in a recent issue of the New England Review, while the responses by philosophers Alain Badiou and Peter Hare were published in collections of their essays. The two different angles are investigated precisely because they fall outside mainstream literary criticism on Stevens and help to dramatize several of the difficulties confronted by poets and philosophers seeking to find common ground. By pitting the voices of poets against those of philosophers, the article allows the reader to observe empirically how poets are often wary of addressing Stevens’s philosophical weight except by noting the formal and stylistic enactment of mental activity in his verse, while philosophers sometimes fail to acknowledge the intrinsic nature of lyric thinking, and thus do not always manage to contribute to a deeper understanding of the poetry as such.https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/15268Wallace StevensAmerican modernist poetryAlain BadiouPeter HareSimon Critchleypoetry and philosophy |
| spellingShingle | Bart Eeckhout The Philosopher’s Poet: Twenty-First-Century Perspectives on Wallace Stevens Transatlantica Wallace Stevens American modernist poetry Alain Badiou Peter Hare Simon Critchley poetry and philosophy |
| title | The Philosopher’s Poet: Twenty-First-Century Perspectives on Wallace Stevens |
| title_full | The Philosopher’s Poet: Twenty-First-Century Perspectives on Wallace Stevens |
| title_fullStr | The Philosopher’s Poet: Twenty-First-Century Perspectives on Wallace Stevens |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Philosopher’s Poet: Twenty-First-Century Perspectives on Wallace Stevens |
| title_short | The Philosopher’s Poet: Twenty-First-Century Perspectives on Wallace Stevens |
| title_sort | philosopher s poet twenty first century perspectives on wallace stevens |
| topic | Wallace Stevens American modernist poetry Alain Badiou Peter Hare Simon Critchley poetry and philosophy |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/15268 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT barteeckhout thephilosopherspoettwentyfirstcenturyperspectivesonwallacestevens AT barteeckhout philosopherspoettwentyfirstcenturyperspectivesonwallacestevens |