Selected quotations from Adagia

"Wine and Music are not good until afternoon. But poetry is like a prayer in that it is most effective in solitude and in the times of solitude as, for example, in the earliest morning."

"After one has abandoned a belief in God, poetry is that essence which takes its place as life’s redemption."

"The poet is a God or The young poet is a God. The old poet is a tramp."

I found the aforementioned quotes to be the most interesting from the ‘Adagia’ section of ‘Collected poetry and prose’ by Wallace Stevens because these three quotes share a common belief. In the first quote, poetry is compared to a prayer, whose full effects can only be felt in complete isolation and at certain times such as dawn. Therefore, poetry could be recited in a similar manner to religious texts after separating oneself completely from all social distractions, following an individual’s loss of faith in God. This establishes a link between the first and the second quotes, where Wallace also mentions that poetry can be used as a substitute for religious texts for disbelievers who seek to obtain redemption. The act of reciting a poem causes one to express his feelings or thoughts through interpretation. In this manner, poems can lead to salvation for individual and enable an individual to fulfill a religious feature, such as redemption, in a completely secular framework. In this secular framework the poet is comparable to God and this brings us nicely to the third quote mentioned above. After one’s loss of faith in God, poetry serves as a substitutes for religious texts in a secular setting where the poet’s words is similar to the scriptures found in religious texts that are believed to be God’s words.

In order to fully comprehend the intended meanings of the poet, the reader would have to separate himself from all distractions in the outside world and concentrate solely on the poetry. Hence, it is the reader’s responsibility to understand the metaphorical and allegorical connotations that serves as the deeper meaning behind each stanza of the poem. The poet is being compared to God because readers of poetry and religious texts share the same task of uncovering the true intended meaning behind the words stated. The old poet might be portrayed as a tramp because of his lack of creation of new works.

As mentioned in ‘Zohar’, only fools interpret the Torah literally “Fools of the world look only at that garment, the story of Torah;” (Zohar, Pg – 44) while the wise interpret the deeper inner meaning of Torah, as originally intended “The wise ones…look only at the souls, root of all, real Torah”. The pursuit of this knowledge and comprehending the metaphorical aspects of a poem would lead to a form of redemption for readers of poetry in a secular framework, without the association of any doctrines or religious connotations.

Sources: Stevens, Wallace. ‘Collected poetry and prose’

'Zohar'