Wallace Stevens, Anecdote of the Jar

Antonio José Jiménez Muñoz

Ed. by Erik Martiny, Paris Science et Lettres
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.3: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Early Twentieth-century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1923

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poetry (any)

Resources

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Recommended Reading

Frequently anthologised and widely researched, “Anecdote of the Jar” (1919) is, despite its length, one of the most well-known poems in

Harmonium

, Wallace Stevens’ first published collection of poems (1923). The status and importance of the poem, similar to those of the other short pieces entitled “anecdotes” in the volume – such as “Earthy Anecdote”, “Anecdote of the Prince of Peacocks” and others – seem deceptively secondary to longer, more complex poems such as “The Comedian as the Letter C”, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” or “Notes Towards a Supreme Fiction”. Strategically placed within the volume – the riddle poem “Earthy” anecdote opens the book – these anecdotes typically deepen, modify or challenge ideas which have been already…

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1880 words

Citation: Jiménez Muñoz, Antonio José. "Anecdote of the Jar". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 September 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6660, accessed 25 April 2024.]

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