"Negation" is a poem from
Wallace Stevens
Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance compa ...
's first book
of poetry, ''
Harmonium
The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. T ...
''. It
was first published in 1918, so it is in the public
domain.
[Bates, p. 133]
This poem was Section VII of the poem—sequence "Lettres d'un Soldat"
(1918). It was extracted as "Negation" for inclusion in the second
edition of ''Harmonium''. It may reflect Stevens's reading of
''
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
''Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None'' (german: Also sprach Zarathustra: Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen), also translated as ''Thus Spake Zarathustra'', is a work of philosophical fiction written by German philosopher Friedrich Niet ...
'', according to Bates. The poem's image of God as
bungling potter recalls Zarathustra's dialogue with the last pope, in
which God is similarly characterized.
Another ''Harmonium'' poem that clearly reflects Stevens's reading of Nietzsche
is "
The Surprises of the Superhuman", which was also extracted from
"Lettres d'un Soldat" for inclusion in the second edition.
The poem is notable for its arch wit and the
anti-poetical salutation, "Hi!",
rather than as a solution to the
problem of evil
The problem of evil is the question of how to reconcile the existence of evil and suffering with an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, and omniscient God.The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,The Problem of Evil, Michael TooleyThe Internet Encyclope ...
.
Notes
References
* Bates, Milton J. 1985: University of California Press.
External links
1918 poems
American poems
Poetry by Wallace Stevens
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