Rivers appear in eight of Stevens' poems. Those eight poems appear below, along with the appropriate line references. Because of their transitory nature, rivers hold deep symbolic meaning in Stevens' poetry. Rivers are a solid force yet are ever changing and shifting. Because of this, they can represent change, uncertainty, or even powerful intangibles such as the imagination. This idea as presented in Stevens' poetry is reminiscent of philosopher Heraclitus's famous statement "No man ever steps in the same river twice."
Rivers in Stevens' Poetry[]
Sunday Morning | |
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line 80 (vi.5): | With rivers like our own that seek for seas |
Frogs Eat Butterflies. Snakes Eat Frogs. Hogs Eat Snakes. Men Eat Hogs | |
line 1: | It is true that the rivers went nosing like swine, |
line 14: | As the swine-like rivers suckled themselves |
Mud Master | |
line 1: | The muddy rivers of spring |
Montrachet-le-Jardin | |
line 71: | I dreamed, of autumn rivers, silvas green, |
The Pure Good of Theory | |
line 24 (ii.3): | Of serpents like z rivers simmering, |
The Dove in the Belly | |
line 4: | The rivers shine and hold their mirrors up, |
The River of Rivers in Connecticut | |
Title: | The River of Rivers in Connecticut |
Phases (OP) | |
line 96 (x.3): | Rivers of jade, |