From the Misery of Don Joost
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From the Misery of Don Joost is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, Harmonium. It is in the public domain according to Librivox.[1]
| From the Misery of Don Joost
I have finished my combat with the sun; The powerful seasons bred and killed, Oh, but the very self of the storm The senses and feeling, the very sound |
The only reference to this poem in Stevens's letters isn't helpful. Responding to a question from Hi Simons, he writes, "This is really #2 in your letter. Don Joost is a jovial Don Quixote. He is an arbitrary figure."[1]
Buttel lists this poem as among a few from Harmonium that anticipate Stevens's later poetry.[2] The others on his list are "Sunday Morning", "The Snow Man", "Another Weeping Woman", and "Death of a Soldier". Mention should also be made of "Le Monocle de Mon Oncle", with which it shares a focus on leaving youth behind. His body, the animal, has become old. He counts the passage of time by reference to the seasons, and his passage through the seasons is compared to a storm, which is abating. The combat with the sun may be a creative struggle, viewed as finished.
The writing of Harmonium was a watershed for Stevens, and this is one way he experienced it.
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- Buttel, R. Wallace Stevens: The Making of Harmonium. 1967: Princeton University Press.
- Stevens. H. Letters of Wallace Stevens. 1966: University of California Press.
