Here are all of Stevens' published books of poetry, side-by-side for the
first time with the haunting lyrics of his later years and early work
that traces the development of his art. From the rococo inventiveness of
Harmonium, his first volume (including such classics as "Sunday Morning,
" "Peter Quince at the Clavier, " and "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a
Blackbird"), through "Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction, " "Esthetique du
Mal, " "The Auroras of Autumn, " and the other large-scale masterpieces
of his midd years, to the austere final poems of "The Rock, " Stevens'
poetry explores with unrelenting intensity the relation between the
world and the human imagination, between nature as found and nature as
invented, and the ways poetry mediates between them. This volume
presents over a hundred poems uncollected by Stevens, including early
versions of often discussed works like "The Comedian as the Letter C"
and "Owl's Clover." Also here is the most comprehensive selection
available of Stevens' prose writings. The Necessary Angel (1951), his
distinguished book of essays, joins nearly fifty shorter pieces, many
previously uncollected: reviews, speeches, short stories, criticism,
philosophical writings, and responses to the work of Eliot, Moore,
Williams, and other poets. The often dazzling aphorisms Stevens gathered
over the years are included, as are his plays and selections from his
poetic notebooks. Rounding out the volume is a fifty-year span of
journal entries and letters, newly edited from manuscript sources, which
provide fascinating glimpses of Stevens' thoughts on poetry and the
creative process.
