The Cuban Doctor

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"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. [1]

Contents

The Cuban Doctor

 I went to Egypt to escape
 The Indian, but the Indian struck
 Out of his cloud and from his sky.

 This was no worm bred in the moon,
 Wriggling far down the phantom air,
 And on a comfortable sofa dreamed.

 The Indian struck and disappeared.
 I knew my enemy was near—I,
 Drowsing in summer's sleepiest horn.

Interpretation

This poem is considered one of the shorter poems included in the first book of poems published by Wallace Stevens. The poem meditates on Stevens's increasing awareness, also notably expressed in "The Anecdote of the Prince of Peacocks" (1923), that there are significant differences between imaginative activity and ordinary experience. This theme can be understood as signalling that writing poetry has dangers. Poetic drowsing is liable to attack by the Indian, or by Berserk in "Peacocks", defeating imagination's task of transforming the ordinary. This sense of danger is absent in such earlier poems as "Disillusionment of Ten O'Clock" (1915), where the old sailor need fear no such violence as he catches tigers in red weather.

Notes

  1. ↑ Buttel, p. 191. See also Librivox "LibriVox :: View topic - COMPLETE: Public Domain Poems of W Stevens, Vol. 1 - PO/Ez". Archived from the original on 2010-10-13. Retrieved 2010-09-27. and the Poetry web site. "Poetry". Archived from the original on 2008-02-03. Retrieved 2007-02-23.

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<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 Plot Against the Giant" 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.

"Cy est Pourtraicte, Madame Ste Ursule, et les Unze Mille Vierges" is a poem in Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, Harmonium. It was first published in 1915 in the magazine Rogue, so it is in the public domain. Butell characterizes it as one of the first two poems to "successfully combine wit and elegance". They are the earliest poems to be collected later in Harmonium.

"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.

"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.

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"Anecdote of Canna" is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, Harmonium (1923).

"Anecdote of the Prince of Peacocks" is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, Harmonium (1923). It was one of the few Harmonium poems first published in that volume, so it is still under copyright. However, it is quoted here as justified by Fair use to facilitate scholarly commentary.

"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.

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"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.

"Anecdote of the Jar" is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, Harmonium. First published in 1919, it is in the public domain.

"Tattoo" is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, Harmonium. It was originally published in 1916, so it is in the public domain. Librivox has made the poem available in voice recording in its The Complete Public Domain Poems of Wallace Stevens.

"The Wind Shifts" 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.

"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 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

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