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Definition: Stevens, Wallace from Philip's Encyclopedia

US poet. A lawyer and insurance company executive, his first collection of poems, Harmonium, appeared in 1923. His work is rich in metaphors, and he contemplates nature and society. Stevens' early poems are often set in the tropics and reflect the lushness of their location. Collected Poems (1954) won a Pulitzer Prize.

Stevens, Wallace (1879-1955)

From Encyclopedia of the Environment in American Literature
Wallace Stevens was born in Reading, Pennsylvania in 1879. After studying at Harvard from 1987 to 1900, and briefly pursuing journalism in Manhattan, he chose an unorthodox career for a poet: insurance law. By 1934 he would be a vice-president at the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Corporation, and the income from this job allowed him to settle in the wealthy suburb of West Hartford, Connecticut, where he lived until his death in 1955. Stevens’ writing garnered attention slowly, beginning in 1914 when the journal Poetry published a few pieces; his first book, Harmonium , appeared in 1923, received mixed reviews, and sold poorly, although Marianne Moore was an early supporter. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Stevens published increasing quantities of work in both short and long form (especially his acclaimed 1942 Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction ), and his reputation blossomed. Auroras of Autumn won the National Book Award in 1951, as did his Collected Poems in 1954 (the latter also…
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Full text Article Stevens, Wallace

From Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature
S. is generally considered to be one of the greatest American poets of the 20th c. His career is unusual because he was a businessman as well as a poet. During most of his poetic career, he worked for the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company, where he eventually became vice president. In this…
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Full text Article Stevens, Wallace (1879–1955)

From The Oxford Companion to Modern Poetry
Born in Reading, Pennsylvania, and grew up in a comfortable, upper-middle-class family. He attended Harvard from 1897 to 1900, where he studied French and German and became friendly with George Santayana, the philosopher, to whom he would later address one of his finest poems, ‘To an Old Philosopher…
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US poet. He began as a journalist and lawyer, then joined an insurance company. Harmonium , his first collection of philosophical verse, appeared in 1923. Further works include The Man with the Blue Guitar (1937) and Collected Poems (1954, winner of a Pulitzer Prize). I placed a jar in Tennessee, …
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Full text Article Wallace Stevens 1879–1955

From The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations
American poet The poet is the priest of the invisible. ‘Adagia’ (1957) Chieftain Iffucan of Azcan in caftan Of tan with henna hackles, halt! ‘Bantams in Pine Woods’ (1923) Call the roller of big cigars, The muscular one, and bid him whip In kitchen cups concupiscent curds. ‘The Emperor of Ice-Cream’ …
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Full text Article Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
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Full text Article FOOD

From Gaither's Dictionary of Scientific Quotations
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Full text Article Stevens

From Merriam-Webster's Collegiate(R) Dictionary Full text Article Biographical Names
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(b. 1879–d. 1955) American poet After one has abandoned a belief in God, poetry is that essence which takes its place as life's redemption. —Opus Posthumous (1957) Wallace Stevens was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, October 2, 1879. In 1897 he enrolled in Harvard as a special student with the hope of…
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Full text Article Stevens, Wallace

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Wallace Stevens, 1952. Credit:© Rollie McKenna
(born Oct. 2, 1879, Reading, Pa., U.S.—died Aug. 2, 1955, Hartford, Conn.) U.S. poet. Stevens practiced law in New York City before joining an insurance firm in Hartford in 1916; he rose to vice president, a position he held until his death. His poems began appearing in literary magazines in 1914. …
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Full text Article STEVENS, WALLACE

From The Reader's Companion to American History
(1879-1955), poet, aesthetician, and insurance lawyer. Stevens's poetry has been the subject of more books of formalist, rhetorical, psychological, and poststructuralist criticism than that of any other modern American poet, though he published relatively little and mostly cryptic lyrical poetry. …
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