From the Misery of Don Joost

Last updated

"From the Misery of Don Joost" is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, Harmonium . It is in the public domain, having been published in the journal Poetry in 1921 (volume 19, October 1921).

Contents

From the Misery of Don Joost

 I have finished my combat with the sun;
 And my body, the old animal,
 Knows nothing more.

 The powerful seasons bred and killed,
 And were themselves the genii
 Of their own ends.

 Oh, but the very self of the storm
 Of sun and slaves, breeding and death,
 The old animal,

 The senses and feeling, the very sound
 And sight, and all there was of the storm,
 Knows nothing more.

Interpretation

The only reference to this poem in Stevens' letters is not helpful. In correspondence with Hi Simons, Stevens writes: "Don Joost is a jovial Don Quixote. He is an arbitrary figure." [1] As Eleanor Cook observes, Don Joost is not jovial, and his resignation contrasts with the bravado that author Miguel de Cervantes wrote in the original Don Quixote: [2]

It seems clear to me...that thou art not well-versed in the matter of adventures: these are giants; and if thou art afraid, move aside and start to pray whilst I enter with them in fierce and unequal combat. (Cervantes, Don Quixote, I.viii, trans. Edith Grossman, 2003)

Buttel lists this poem as among a few from Harmonium that anticipate Stevens's later poetry. [3] The others on his list are "Sunday Morning", "The Snow Man", "Another Weeping Woman", and "Death of a Soldier". Mention could 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.

Notes

  1. ↑ Stevens, H., p. 464.
  2. ↑ Cook, p. 51.
  3. ↑ Buttel, p. 250.

Related Research Articles

<i>Harmonium</i> (poetry collection) Book by Wallace Stevens

Harmonium is a book of poetry by American poet Wallace Stevens. His first book at the age of forty-four, it was published in 1923 by Knopf in an edition of 1500 copies. This collection comprises 85 poems, ranging in length from just a few lines to several hundred. Harmonium was reissued in 1931 with three poems omitted and fourteen new poems added.

"The Snow Man" is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, Harmonium, first published in the October 1921 issue of the journal Poetry.

"Ploughing on Sunday" is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, Harmonium (1923). First published in 1919, it is now in the public domain.

"Hibiscus on the Sleeping Shores" is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, Harmonium. It was first published in 1921 and is therefore in the public domain.

"O Florida, Venereal Soil" is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, Harmonium. It was first published in the journal Dial, volume 73, July 1922, and is therefore in the public domain.

"Last Looks at the Lilacs" is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, Harmonium. It was first published in 1923.

"Floral Decorations for Bananas" is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, Harmonium (1923). It was first published Measure 26 and is therefore under copyright, however it is quoted here as justified by fair use in order to facilitate scholarly commentary.

"Sunday Morning" is a poem from Wallace Stevens' first book of poetry, Harmonium. Published in part in the November 1915 issue of Poetry, then in full in 1923 in Harmonium, it is now in the public domain. The first published version can be read at the Poetry web site: The literary critic Yvor Winters considered "Sunday Morning" "the greatest American poem of the twentieth century and... certainly one of the greatest contemplative poems in English".

"The Curtains in the House of the Metaphysician" is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, Harmonium. It was originally published in 1919, so it is in the public domain.

"Banal Sojourn" is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, Harmonium. It was originally published in 1919, therefore it is in the public domain.

"The Cuban Doctor" is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, Harmonium. It was first published in the journal Poetry in October 1921, so it is in the public domain.

"Stars at Tallapoosa" is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, Harmonium. It was first published in 1922, so it is in the public domain.

"Explanation" is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, Harmonium (1923). It was first published in 1917, so it is in the public domain.

"Bantams in Pine-Woods" is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, Harmonium. It was first published in 1922 in the poetry journal Dial, along with five other poems, all under the title "Revue." It is in the public domain.

"Cortege for Rosenbloom" is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book, Harmonium. First published in 1921, it is in the public domain in the United States and similar jurisdictions.

"Theory" is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, Harmonium. It was first published in 1917, so it is in the public domain.

"The Man Whose Pharynx Was Bad" is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, Harmonium. First published in 1921, it is in the public domain in the United States.

"The Death of a Soldier" is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, Harmonium. The poem uses free verse to describe the death of a soldier.

"Tea" is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, Harmonium. It was first published in 1915 in the journal Rogue.

"The Public Square" is a poem from the second edition (1931) of Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, Harmonium. It was first published in 1923, so it is one of the few poems in the collection that is not free of copyright, but it is quoted here in full as justified by fair use for scholarly commentary.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.