Introduction: “The Man with the Blue Guitar” by Wallace Stevens
“The Man with the Blue Guitar” by Wallace Stevens first appeared in 1937 within his collection, The Man with the Blue Guitar. This complex and philosophical poem is a series of interconnected meditations on the nature of reality, art, and perception. Stevens employs the metaphor of a blue guitar to explore the transformative power of the imagination, suggesting that the artist, like the musician, does not merely reflect the world but re-creates it. The poem’s intricate structure, rich imagery, and philosophical depth make it a cornerstone of modernist poetry, inviting readers to engage in a profound exploration of the human condition.
Text: “The Man with the Blue Guitar” by Wallace Stevens
I
The man bent over his guitar,
A shearsman of sorts. The day was green.
They said, “You have a blue guitar,
You do not play things as they are.”
The man replied, “Things as they are
Are changed upon the blue guitar.”
And they said then, “But play, you must,
A tune beyond us, yet ourselves,
A tune upon the blue guitar
Of things exactly as they are.”
II
I cannot bring a world quite round,
Although I patch it as I can.
I sing a hero’s head, large eye
And bearded bronze, but not a man,
Although I patch him as I can
And reach through him almost to man.
If to serenade almost to man
Is to miss, by that, things as they are,
Say it is the serenade
Of a man that plays a blue guitar.
III
Ah, but to play man number one,
To drive the dagger in his heart,
To lay his brain upon the board
And pick the acrid colors out,
To nail his thought across the door,
Its wings spread wide to rain and snow,
To strike his living hi and ho,
To tick it, tock it, turn it true,
To bang from it a savage blue,
Jangling the metal of the strings�
IV
So that’s life, then: things as they are?
It picks its way on the blue guitar.
A million people on one string?
And all their manner in the thing,
And all their manner, right and wrong,
And all their manner, weak and strong?
The feelings crazily, craftily call,
Like a buzzing of flies in autumn air,
And that’s life, then: things as they are,
This buzzing of the blue guitar.
V
Do not speak to us of the greatness of poetry,
Of the torches wisping in the underground,
Of the structure of vaults upon a point of light.
There are no shadows in our sun,
Day is desire and night is sleep.
There are no shadows anywhere.
The earth, for us, is flat and bare.
There are no shadows. Poetry
Exceeding music must take the place
Of empty heaven and its hymns,
Ourselves in poetry must take their place,
Even in the chattering of your guitar.
VI
A tune beyond us as we are,
Yet nothing changed by the blue guitar;
Ourselves in the tune as if in space,
Yet nothing changed, except the place
Of things as they are and only the place
As you play them, on the blue guitar,
Placed, so, beyond the compass of change,
Perceived in a final atmosphere;
For a moment final, in the way
The thinking of art seems final when
The thinking of god is smoky dew.
The tune is space. The blue guitar
Becomes the place of things as they are,
A composing of senses of the guitar.
VII
It is the sun that shares our works.
The moon shares nothing. It is a sea.
When shall I come to say of the sun,
It is a sea; it shares nothing;
The sun no longer shares our works
And the earth is alive with creeping men,
Mechanical beetles never quite warm?
And shall I then stand in the sun, as now
I stand in the moon, and call it good,
The immaculate, the merciful good,
Detached from us, from things as they are?
Not to be part of the sun? To stand
Remote and call it merciful?
The strings are cold on the blue guitar.
VIII
The vivid, florid, turgid sky,
The drenching thunder rolling by,
The morning deluged still by night,
The clouds tumultuously bright
And the feeling heavy in cold chords
Struggling toward impassioned choirs,
Crying among the clouds, enraged
By gold antagonists in air–
I know my lazy, leaden twang
Is like the reason in a storm;
And yet it brings the storm to bear.
I twang it out and leave it there.
IX
And the color, the overcast blue
Of the air, in which the blue guitar
Is a form, described but difficult,
And I am merely a shadow hunched
Above the arrowy, still strings,
The maker of a thing yet to be made;
The color like a thought that grows
Out of a mood, the tragic robe
Of the actor, half his gesture, half
His speech, the dress of his meaning, silk
Sodden with his melancholy words,
The weather of his stage, himself.
X
Raise reddest columns. Toll a bell
And clap the hollows full of tin.
Throw papers in the streets, the wills
Of the dead, majestic in their seals.
And the beautiful trombones-behold
The approach of him whom none believes,
Whom all believe that all believe,
A pagan in a varnished care.
Roll a drum upon the blue guitar.
Lean from the steeple. Cry aloud,
“Here am I, my adversary, that
Confront you, hoo-ing the slick trombones,
Yet with a petty misery
At heart, a petty misery,
Ever the prelude to your end,
The touch that topples men and rock.”
XV
Is this picture of Picasso’s, this “hoard
Of destructions”, a picture of ourselves,
Now, an image of our society?
Do I sit, deformed, a naked egg,
Catching at Good-bye, harvest moon,
Without seeing the harvest or the moon?
Things as they are have been destroyed.
Have I? Am I a man that is dead
At a table on which the food is cold?
Is my thought a memory, not alive?
Is the spot on the floor, there, wine or blood
And whichever it may be, is it mine?
XXIII
A few final solutions, like a duet
With the undertaker: a voice in the clouds,
Another on earth, the one a voice
Of ether, the other smelling of drink,
The voice of ether prevailing, the swell
Of the undertaker’s song in the snow
Apostrophizing wreaths, the voice
In the clouds serene and final, next
The grunted breath scene and final,
The imagined and the real, thought
And the truth, Dichtung und Wahrheit, all
Confusion solved, as in a refrain
One keeps on playing year by year,
Concerning the nature of things as they are.
XXX
From this I shall evolve a man.
This is his essence: the old fantoche
Hanging his shawl upon the wind,
Like something on the stage, puffed out,
His strutting studied through centuries.
At last, in spite of his manner, his eye
A-cock at the cross-piece on a pole
Supporting heavy cables, slung
Through Oxidia, banal suburb,
One-half of all its installments paid.
Dew-dapper clapper-traps, blazing
From crusty stacks above machines.
Ecce, Oxidia is the seed
Dropped out of this amber-ember pod,
Oxidia is the soot of fire,
Oxidia is Olympia.
XXXI
How long and late the pheasant sleeps
The employer and employee contend,
Combat, compose their droll affair.
The bubbling sun will bubble up,
Spring sparkle and the cock-bird shriek.
The employer and employee will hear
And continue their affair. The shriek
Will rack the thickets. There is no place,
Here, for the lark fixed in the mind,
In the museum of the sky. The cock
Will claw sleep. Morning is not sun,
It is this posture of the nerves,
As if a blunted player clutched
The nuances of the blue guitar.
It must be this rhapsody or none,
The rhapsody of things as they are.
XXXII
Throw away the lights, the definitions,
And say of what you see in the dark
That it is this or that it is that,
But do not use the rotted names.
How should you walk in that space and know
Nothing of the madness of space,
Nothing of its jocular procreations?
Throw the lights away. Nothing must stand
Between you and the shapes you take
When the crust of shape has been destroyed.
You as you are? You are yourself.
The blue guitar surprises you.
XXXIII
That generation’s dream, aviled
In the mud, in Monday’s dirty light,
That’s it, the only dream they knew,
Time in its final block, not time
To come, a wrangling of two dreams.
Here is the bread of time to come,
Here is its actual stone. The bread
Will be our bread, the stone will be
Our bed and we shall sleep by night.
We shall forget by day, except
The moments when we choose to play
The imagined pine, the imagined jay.
Annotations: “The Man with the Blue Guitar” by Wallace Stevens
| Stanza | Annotation |
| I | The speaker reflects on the nature of reality and perception, as a man plays a blue guitar that changes reality into art. The discrepancy between the real and the artistic interpretation is emphasized. |
| II | Here, the difficulty of capturing the entirety of the world or a person through art is explored. The poet suggests that art is an approximation, a “patched” version of reality. |
| III | This stanza delves into the transformative power of art, portraying how it can evoke deeper truths or realities beyond mere physical existence. |
| IV | Art’s relationship to life is examined; how art interprets, abstracts, and sometimes distorts life to reveal underlying truths or emotions. |
| V | The poet criticizes the limitations of conventional poetry and celebrates the unique capabilities of music (or the blue guitar) to encapsulate deeper emotional truths. |
| VI | The continuity of self and perception through art is discussed, emphasizing how art changes the place but not the essence of things. |
| VII | Here, the speaker reflects on the separation between humanity and the divine, or the existential, using the imagery of the sun and the moon to contrast shared experiences with isolation. |
| VIII | This stanza captures the struggle between human emotions and the overwhelming nature of external realities, highlighting the conflict inherent in artistic expression. |
| IX | The focus is on the process of artistic creation, the difficulty of defining art, and the ephemeral nature of artistic ‘truth.’ |
| X | The poet explores the public’s reaction to art, how art intersects with societal events, and the dramatic portrayal of life through artistic expressions. |
| XV | Stevens invokes Picasso, questioning whether art reflects society accurately, or if it is a distorted ‘hoard of destructions,’ reflecting on how people perceive and engage with art. |
| XXIII | An exploration of philosophical themes, contrasting reality with artistic interpretation, touching on themes of finality and the cyclical nature of understanding. |
| XXX | The creation of a character as a metaphor for art’s ability to distill complex human traits into simplified forms, examining the banality and ubiquity of suburban life. |
| XXXI | A depiction of the mundane everyday interactions between employer and employee, suggesting that even in routine there is a place for the poetic or the artistic. |
| XXXII | A call to abandon conventional definitions and to embrace a more intrinsic, intuitive understanding of art and reality, challenging the boundaries of perception. |
| XXXIII | Reflects on the generational shift in dreams and aspirations, using bread and stone as metaphors for the essential and the eternal, juxtaposed against the fleeting nature of time. |
Literary And Poetic Devices: “The Man with the Blue Guitar” by Wallace Stevens
| Literary Device | Definition | Example | Explanation |
| 1. Metaphor | Comparison between two unlike things | “A shearsman of sorts” | Compares the man to a shearsman |
| 2. Personification | Attributing human qualities to non-human entities | “The day was green” | Gives the day a color, like a living thing |
| 3. Allusion | Reference to a person, place, event, or work of art | “Torch es wisping in the underground” | Possibly alludes to Greek mythology’s underworld |
| 4. Symbolism | Using an object to represent an abstract idea | “The blue guitar” | Represents creativity, art, or imagination |
| 5. Enjambment | Continuation of a sentence or phrase into the next line | “Things as they are / Are changed upon the blue guitar” | Creates a sense of flow |
| 6. Imagery | Language that appeals to the senses | “Vivid, florid, turgid sky” | Evokes a sensory experience |
| 7. Simile | Comparison between two unlike things using “like” or “as” | “Like a buzzing of flies in autumn air” | Compares two unlike things |
| 8. Hyperbole | Exaggeration used for emphasis | “A million people on one string” | Emphasizes the idea |
| 9. Alliteration | Repetition of initial consonant sounds | “Crying among the clouds, enraged” | Creates a musical quality |
| 10. Assonance | Repetition of vowel sounds | “Feeling heavy in cold chords” | Creates a musical quality |
| 11. Onomatopoeia | Words that imitate sounds | “Twang it out and leave it there” | Imitates the sound of the guitar |
| 12. Irony | Contrast between what is expected and what happens | “Serenade / Of a man that plays a blue guitar” | Unexpected twist on a traditional serenade |
| 13. Juxtaposition | Placing two elements side by side for comparison | “Sun shares our works. / Moon shares nothing” | Compares two ideas |
| 14. Repetition | Repeating words or phrases for emphasis | “Things as they are” | Emphasizes the idea |
| 15. Anaphora | Repeating a word or phrase at the beginning of clauses | “And the color… / And I am merely” | Creates emphasis |
| 16. Epistrophe | Repeating a word or phrase at the end of clauses | “The blue guitar / The blue guitar” | Creates emphasis |
| 17. Apostrophe | Addressing a person or entity not present | “Ourselves in poetry must take their place” | Addresses an absent entity |
| 18. Oxymoron | Combination of two words with opposite meanings | (Not found in the poem) | Example: “bitter sweetness” |
| 19. Paradox | Statement that contradicts itself | “Things as they are have been destroyed. / Have I?” | Contradictory statements |
| 20. Stream-of-consciousness | Writing style that mimics natural thought patterns | (Entire poem) | Mimics natural thought patterns |
Themes: “The Man with the Blue Guitar” by Wallace Stevens
- Art as Transformation: Throughout the poem, Stevens examines the idea that art transforms reality, a notion encapsulated in the refrain, “Things as they are / Are changed upon the blue guitar” (Stanza I). This theme is woven into the fabric of the poem, suggesting that art does not merely replicate the world but rather interprets and alters it according to the artist’s vision. The speaker acknowledges that his artistic representations, like the “hero’s head, large eye / And bearded bronze” (Stanza II), do not completely capture the essence of their subjects but instead offer a revised version that might reach “almost to man.” This transformative power is central to the poem’s meditation on the role of art in human life.
- Perception vs. Reality: Stevens plays with the dichotomy between perception and reality, challenging the notion of objective truth. He proposes that our understanding of the world is inevitably colored by our perceptions, which are themselves influenced by personal experiences and emotions. In Stanza VI, he suggests that the tune played on the blue guitar alters not the things themselves but “only the place / Of things as they are,” indicating that art shifts our perspective rather than the inherent nature of the objects it depicts. This theme underscores the subjectivity of all human experience, particularly the artistic endeavor.
- Artistic Isolation and Communication: The poet reflects on the isolation of the artist and the communicative power of art. In Stanza VII, the separation of the artist from the broader community is palpable when the speaker feels detached from “the sun,” a metaphor for common human experience. Yet, despite this isolation, the poem itself is an act of communication, an attempt to connect with others through the shared language of art. The notion that the blue guitar can express “a tune beyond us, yet ourselves” (Stanza I) highlights art’s role in bridging individual and collective experiences.
- The Ephemeral and the Eternal in Art: Stevens contemplates the interplay between the transient and the permanent in art and life. In Stanza XXXIII, he discusses “that generation’s dream,” reflecting on how art captures specific moments in time while also touching on timeless themes. The contrast between “the bread of time to come” and “its actual stone” symbolizes the tension between the ephemeral nature of human life and the enduring nature of artistic creation. This theme is revisited in the closing sections of the poem, particularly in the evocation of “the nature of things as they are” (Stanza XXXII), where art is seen as both a product of its time and a perennial reflection of universal truths.
Literary Theories and “The Man with the Blue Guitar” by Wallace Stevens
| Literary Theory | Description | Application to “The Man with the Blue Guitar” |
| Formalism | Focuses on the form and structure of the text itself, examining elements like language, rhythm, and imagery. | Formalism would concentrate on the intricate structure and use of imagery in Stevens’ poem, particularly the repeated motif of the blue guitar. Analysis might explore how the rhythm and word choice contribute to the thematic exploration of art’s transformation of reality and perception. |
| Phenomenology | Studies the subjective experience of readers as they engage with the text, emphasizing personal interpretation and consciousness. | Applying phenomenology to this poem would involve an exploration of how individual readers perceive the abstract concepts presented, such as the transformation of reality through art. It would consider how different readers emotionally connect with the themes based on their own experiences. |
| Post-Structuralism | Questions the stability of language and meaning, suggesting that meanings are not fixed but can vary based on context and the play of language. | Post-structuralism would analyze the poem’s questioning of objective reality versus perception, highlighting how language shapes our understanding of art and reality. The theory would emphasize the instability of the “things as they are” concept and how it is altered through the blue guitar. |
Critical Questions about “The Man with the Blue Guitar” by Wallace Stevens
- Question 1: What is the relationship between reality and art?
- In “The Man with the Blue Guitar,” Stevens explores the relationship between reality and art, suggesting that art can shape our understanding of reality. The poem states, “Things as they are / Are changed upon the blue guitar” (Stevens 1-2). This implies that the artist’s perception of reality is filtered through their creative medium, in this case, the blue guitar. The poem raises questions about the nature of reality and how it is influenced by artistic expression.
- Question 2: How does the poem’s use of imagery and symbolism contribute to its meaning?
- The poem’s rich imagery and symbolism are crucial to its meaning. The “blue guitar” itself is a symbol of artistic expression, while the “vivid, florid, turgid sky” (Stevens 13) creates a sense of dynamic energy. The image of the “man bent over his guitar” (Stevens 1) suggests a sense of dedication and craftsmanship. These images and symbols work together to create a complex web of meaning that invites the reader to interpret and reflect.
- Question 3: What is the significance of the poem’s use of paradox and contradiction?
- The poem’s use of paradox and contradiction highlights the tensions between different perspectives and ways of understanding the world. For example, the lines “Things as they are have been destroyed. / Have I?” (Stevens 23-24) present a paradoxical statement that challenges the reader to consider the relationship between reality and identity. Similarly, the poem’s juxtaposition of “sun” and “moon” (Stevens 17-18) creates a sense of contrast and highlights the complexities of human experience.
- Question 4: How does the poem’s structure and form contribute to its overall effect?
- The poem’s structure and form are carefully crafted to create a sense of flow and continuity. The use of enjambment, such as in the lines “Things as they are / Are changed upon the blue guitar” (Stevens 1-2), creates a sense of urgency and momentum. The poem’s divisions into sections and stanzas also contribute to its musical quality, echoing the sound of the blue guitar. The overall effect is a sense of dynamic energy and creative expression, mirroring the poem’s themes of art and reality.
Literary Works Similar to “The Man with the Blue Guitar” by Wallace Stevens
- “The Idea of Order at Key West” by Wallace Stevens: Similar in its exploration of art’s ability to impose order and meaning on chaotic reality, this poem also delves into the transformative power of artistic creation.
- “Sailing to Byzantium” by W.B. Yeats: This poem shares a thematic concern with the transcendence of the physical to the realm of the eternal and ideal, much like Stevens’s meditation on art transcending everyday reality.
- “Birches” by Robert Frost: Like Stevens, Frost uses nature as a backdrop to explore deeper philosophical issues, particularly the interplay between reality and the imaginative whims of the human mind.
- “Musee des Beaux Arts” by W.H. Auden: Auden’s poem reflects on how art captures human suffering in a way that can be more impactful than real life, echoing Stevens’s theme of art transforming and reinterpreting reality.
- “Ash Wednesday” by T.S. Eliot: Both poems wrestle with the limitations and possibilities of language and art in expressing and shaping human experience, particularly through the lens of spiritual and existential inquiry.
Suggested Readings: “The Man with the Blue Guitar” by Wallace Stevens
- Altieri, Charles. Painterly Abstraction in Modernist American Poetry: The Contemporaneity of Modernism. Cambridge UP, 1989.
- Benamou, Michel. Wallace Stevens and the Symbolist Imagination. Princeton UP, 1972.
- Doggett, Frank. Stevens’ Poetry of Thought. Johns Hopkins UP, 1966.
- Vendler, Helen. On Extended Wings: Wallace Stevens’ Longer Poems. Harvard UP, 1969.
- Stevens, Wallace. The Man with the Blue Guitar & Other Poems. Knopf, 1937.
- NATHAN, LEONARD E. “WALLACE STEVENS AND MODERN POETRY.” Indian Literature, vol. 10, no. 1, 1967, pp. 82–101. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23329080. Accessed 18 Aug. 2024.
- Heringman, Bernard. “Wallace Stevens: The Use of Poetry.” ELH, vol. 16, no. 4, 1949, pp. 325–36. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2871707. Accessed 18 Aug. 2024.
- Olson, Elder, and Wallace Stevens. “The Poetry of Wallace Stevens.” The English Journal, vol. 44, no. 4, 1955, pp. 191–98. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/809793. Accessed 18 Aug. 2024.
Representative Quotations of “The Man with the Blue Guitar” by Wallace Stevens
| Quotation | Context | Theoretical Perspective |
| “Things as they are / Are changed upon the blue guitar” | Opening lines, introducing the poem’s central theme | Postmodernism: Highlights the subjective nature of reality and the power of art to shape our understanding. |
| “The man bent over his guitar, / A shearsman of sorts” | Introduces the poet/musician, emphasizing their creative role | Romanticism: Emphasizes the importance of the individual artist’s vision and skill. |
| “They said, ‘You have a blue guitar, / You do not play things as they are'” | Others challenge the poet’s unique perspective | Social Constructivism: Suggests that reality is shaped by social and cultural forces, and that art can challenge these norms. |
| “I cannot bring a world quite round, / Although I patch it as I can” | Poet acknowledges limitations of art to fully capture reality | Modernism: Recognizes the fragmentation and provisional nature of human knowledge and art. |
| “A tune beyond us, yet ourselves, / A tune upon the blue guitar” | Poet seeks to create a new, transcendent reality | Symbolism: Uses the blue guitar as a symbol of artistic expression and the pursuit of the ideal. |
| “The earth, for us, is flat and bare. / There are no shadows” | Poet describes a world without depth or nuance | Existentialism: Suggests that human existence is characterized by uncertainty and the absence of inherent meaning. |
| “Ourselves in poetry must take their place, / Even in the chattering of your guitar” | Poet emphasizes the importance of art in shaping our understanding | Poststructuralism: Highlights the role of language and art in constructing our reality and identity. |
| “The blue guitar surprises you” | Final line, emphasizing the power of art to transform | Phenomenology: Suggests that art can reveal new aspects of reality and challenge our assumptions. |