Wallace Stevens : Collected Poetry and Prose (Library of America)

Rating:
Summary: Kermode gets at the "real" Stevens
Review: Who knew that the self-possessed and elegant verse of Wallace Stevens actually masked an insecure, nervous man of choleric temperament? Not me. Kermode, a Stevens scholar and biographer, has done a good job of not merely reprinting here the familiar but of finding some true surprises, too. For example, this verse, written in Stevens' 40th year to a college literary magazine that was sponsoring a competition:

I Want to Win The Darned Contest

Please let me win
your poetry contest
I'd like to be a lucky winner today.
I'm dreaming of the fame that will
ensue if you call me to utter
the words that make it worth while:
You're a winner, you're not a loser
any more
you totally have what it takes to
write a poem
that moves us
without making us puke.
Please god, that's what I need to
hear from you.
OK? OK.
Thanks again.
Very Truly Yours,
Wallace Stevens
Vice President.

The book taught me a lot about this great American poet.