This short poem by Wallace Stevens titled The Rock seems to glorify living in the present. In this poem there seem to be a dismissal and illusion of the past. Since Wallace seems to view religion as fictitious, this might be insight on why he writes about the present.
The imagery presented seems to perpetuate this idea. In the seventh line it reads; "Even our shadows, their shadows, no longer remain". This infers that our past and every ones past is no longer relevant, it no longer exists, so why bother dwelling on the past. In lines twelve and thirteen, Wallace seems to portray his pessimistic view of religion by saying " An invention, an embrace between one desperate clod". And then follows with "And another in a fantastic consciousness". This line I believe give us insight into his existentialist belief about living in the present. "The green leaves came and covered the high rock, the lilacs came and bloomed.....Exclaiming bright sight" are a few lines that seem to portray the present as beautiful.
Although he seems to glorify the present, it seems to me that there is another side of him that has contempt for life. In the last line he uses dark language about life; "The blooming and the musk, Were being alive, an incessant being alive, a particular of being, that gross universe".
"The Rock", and especially Part I, always makes me wonder whether Wallace Stevens believed in the idea of solipsism; the philosophical idea that only one's own mind is sure to exist. The problem with this idea is that, if you can only know that your mind is real and true, it makes the minds of others improvable and therefore perhaps non-existent.
ReplyDelete"It is an illusion that we were ever alive," (Ln 1.)
He includes the self as "we", perhaps because if no one else is truly alive, how is he be living all alone yet with them.
"The lives these lived in the mind are at an end. / They never were..." (Ln.8-9)
Yeah, self-explanatory but basically all who have died were never really alive in the first place.
"It is not to be believed. / The meeting at noon at the edge of the field seems like / An invention, an embrace between one desperate clod / And another in a fantastic consciousness,
In a queer assertion of humanity" (Ln.11-15)
One of my favorite parts of The Rock; two minds meeting in a field trying to understand each other. They are hindered, however, due to their living in separate streams of conscious thought and experience. In other words, it's difficult for the two to relate, much less assert each others existence.
"As if nothingness contained a métier, / A vital assumption, an impermanence / In its permanent cold, an illusion so desired" (Ln.21-23)
These lines seem to assert that Stevens believes that, though it is a futile "illusion", humanity still finds it "vital" and necessary to believe we are alive and have some semblance of a grasp on the reality of existence.
That's just how I read it though. I'm not completely sure what Stevens epistemological beliefs are.
I agree that by this poem "The Rock" you can see Stevens mindset and belief that the past is not a reality anymore. However the things that happen in our past as humans shape and mold who we become. Therefore we still have remnants of our past in lessons we have learned, wounds or other things experienced. So when you look at "The Rock" you can see that although Stevens believes the past is nonexistent it still affects the present. As you mentioned the last line displays the reality of not knowing what the future holds and just living for today, not having a hope for something greater ahead. However I think Stevens lets us stop and think about our constant dwelling on the past as a society and lets us take an approach where we can forget and try to overcome things of the past. Although we can't run from it forever, one day we will have to face the things we have done, either in this life or when we stand before God.
ReplyDelete