.read.- Wallace Stevens’ “The Plot Against the Giant” August 11, 2008

.authored by something.of.substance.

face of a reluctant genius

Wallace Stevens (1879-1955), an American modernist poet, debuted “The Plot Against the Giant” in his first book Harmonium, published in 1923. Born in Pennsylvania, Stevens was educated at Harvard University and New York Law School and spent most of his adult life as an insurance lawyer in Connecticut. After winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1955, he was offered a faculty position at Harvard University. He declined as he preferred to retain his promotion of vice-president of the Connecticut insurance company.

Because Stevens’ output of poetry began well into his thirties, it demonstrates a meditative and philosophical sophistication. Stevens was constantly playing with the concept of “reality”; he believed that “reality” is the product of the imagination as it shapes the world. In fact, Stevens wrote in his essay “Imagination as Value”: “the truth seems to be that we live in concepts of the imagination before the reason has established them.” Because he viewed the world as ever-changing (reality), he constantly sought new ways to see the world (imagination).

As such, much of his poetry can be taken not only literally, but also as allegory. For example, his poem “The Plot Against the Giant” (first published in Harmonium) proffers several different, and not entirely un-true, interpretations. One allegorical interpretation of the Three Girls seducing the Giant is as political statement. At the time it was written (1913), World War I was brewing in Europe and some have analyzed The Girls as European adversaries. Another allegorical- and more modern- interpretation is of the effect of feminism on the the dominating patriarchy of the world.

Conversely, the literalistic interpretations that exist are not necessarily globally-themed. At Harvard, Stevens’ nickname was “The Giant” and this poem is seen by some as his autobiographical failing with women. Lastly, an analysis that has come more into favor over time is the idea that Stevens’ was sending a message to all readers to appreciate the beauty of nature.

Because he refused to ever explain his genius, Wallace Stevens left us with no clear interpretation. However, this simple and short poem manages to say so much with the simple fabrics and sounds it uses to express itself. Personally, I find this poem to be provocatively innocent and evocatively erotic. No matter how many times I read this poem, I find something new to appreciate each time. Perhaps, hearing more opinions of this piece will continue to spark my imagination and enhance my reality.

The Plot Against the Giant

First Girl

When this yokel comes maundering,
Whetting his hacker,
I shall run before him,
Diffusing the civilest odors
Out of geraniums and unsmelled flowers.
It will check him.

Second Girl

I shall run before him,
Arching cloths besprinkled with colors
As small as fish-eggs.
The threads
Will abash him.

Third Girl

Oh, la...le pauvre!
I shall run before him,
With a curious puffing.
He will bend his ear then.
I shall whisper
Heavenly labials in a world of gutturals.
It will undo him.