BOOKS
MISREADING BLOOM
WALLACE STEVENS: THE POEMS OF OUR CLIMATE.
By Harold
Bloom. Cornell University Press. $17.50.
Haro ld Bloom 's
Th e Poems of O ur C limate
is p ro ba bl y til e
best book o n Steven s. tho u gh thi s isn 't hi gh pra ise. T oo quirky
to
be
a n ythin g like " definiti vc," it n cvcrth eless devel o ps a way of consider–
in g Steven s's poetry wh ich , seen d ear o f Bloom 's pa rticul a r cr iti ca l
sys tem and it s att endant termin o logy , sho u ld o pcn the wa y at last fo r a
gen era l ass im il a tion o f Steven s's cssent ia l impo rwncl'. Steven s is a
p sych o log ica l poet in th e sen se th a t hi s POClll S a rc th e record o f the
mo vemcnt o f a mind. Hi s is no t a poctry o f th o ug ht but o f h ow
\\T
think . It s m ovement is typ ica ll y from conflict
to
reso luti o n whi ch
brea ks down into conflict aga in . Th c poet is a ma n whose mind is
nC\'er made
1I
p:
" It
can n ever
be
sa ti sfi ed , th e mind ,
I1l'Y(T. "
If
Steven s's
poems may be sa id to ha ve a structu re, it is fund amcnta ll y the structure
o f th e poet's mind as it is rea lized in th c act o f imprO\'isa ti o n . Hencc o n
th e o n c h and th e loose, limitl ess va ri a ti o n s-o n -a- th elll e fo rm , as in
"Th e Man \Vith th e Blue Gu itar"
01
" An Ordinary Evenin g in
i\: l'\\'
H an'n ," a nd o n th e othcr, the s\'mmetri ca l bllt arbi tra ry
fO llll ~. a ~
in
"Notes towa rd a Supreme Fi cti o n ." whi ch sen T a,
<l
fr am l' withill
whi ch to imp rov ise. As o p posed to th e didact ic or phil osophi c. thi s
poe try's cnd is no t proof but con victi on , o r persuas io n as in rhetor ic,
except th at it is as if St even s were trying
to
pers uade himself; its goa l is
no t to demo n stra te truth but
to
effect reso lut io n . It dot'S n o t att empt
to
assert fact , but ra ther seeks to adju st belief to fact ,
to
brin g a bo ut th a t
"agreemcnt with rea lity believed fo r a time to be true" that Steyen s
conceives to be poeti c truth . In o ther wo rds, its a rea o f opera ti o n is no t
tha t o f doctrin e, but o f p sycho log y. Th a t is \Vh y St even s ca n write,
" It
is th e belief and not the god tha t counts," a nd aga in , " In the lo ng run
the truth does no t ma tter. "
Th roug h ingeni o u s u se o f the termino logy peculi a r to hi s
criti cism-no ma tter how to rtuous-Bloom captures th is basic mode
