Ramirez |1

Albert Gamez Ramirez

Sanchez Pd 6
Author Essay
21 February 2018

Wallace Stevens
“A poet looks at the world the way a man looks at a woman.” Said Wallace Stevens.

Only he would know the true meaning behind this quote, so it seems that he had deep love for his

wife Elise Kachel. He got married to his wife in the year 1909 till death took him. Fifteen years

within their marriage Elise gave birth to their daughter. One of his first major inspirations to

write was a year long vacation to California, his daughter, and his awards.

In 1923 Stevens wrote his first book Harmonium. This book had a variation of eighty-

five poems, and wrote about his life up until he was forty-four. Stevens and his wife went on an

extended trip to California. On this trip he recorded things like nature and landscape in a journal

he kept throughout his trip. The journal he kept was later made into his poem Sea Surface Full of

Clouds that was published in 1924. Although Harmonium has many different poems, Sunday

Morning is the most popular within the book. Although he had published his first two books, did

not write much for a while.

In 1924 Stevens and Elise had their daughter Holly Stevens. Due to their daughter being

born, Stevens wrote very little and did not publish for nearly 10 years. Wallace was such an

impact in her life, that she became a writer herself just like her father. She wrote her book

Souvenirs and Prophecies: The Young Wallace Stevens. Not only did she write a book about her

father, but edited many of Wallace’s poems. Unfortunately, her father died from stomach

cancer, and she died from lung cancer. Her best memory as a child was seeing her father receive

many awards.
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Wallace’s first award was received in 1950 for a literary on an American poet

recognizing the best book of new verses, which was a lifetime achievement announced at Yale

University. Among many awards Wallace had the privilege to win two awards of the National

Book Award for Poetry in 1951 and 1955, and has been the only person to win two. Wallace was

so talented that he also received awards from the Nation in 1936 and the Harriet Monroe Award

in 1946. Over his 76 years of life, Wallace achieved to win many awards through out his years

and it is something that he was able to look at and see his success. His greatest success of all

was inspiring his daughter to become just like him, a writer.

Wallace had much success and inspired many, all his awards show exactly that.

Regardless of what his father wanted for him, he became who he wanted to be, a writer and not a

lawyer. His work continues to travel around the world and inspire many to become the writer

that they yearn to be. There is no greater example of a writer than Wallace Stevens.
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Work Cited
Healey, Christina. "Wallace Stevens." Wallace Stevens (9781429815031), 8/1/2017, p. 1.
EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=b6h&AN=15323767&site=brc-
live.
Woodland, Malcolm. Wallace Stevens and the Apocalyptic Mode. University Of Iowa
Press, 2005. EBSCOhost,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e092sww&AN=180367&site=prc-live.
Cook, Eleanor. A Reader's Guide to Wallace Stevens. Princeton University Press, 2009.
EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=329724&site=ehost-
live.