"Hymn From A Watermelon Pavilion" is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, Harmonium. It was first published in 1917, so it is in the public domain.[1]
Hymn From A Watermelon Pavilion
You dweller in the dark cabin, To whom the watermelon is always purple, Whose garden is wind and moon,
Of the two dreams, night and day, What lover, what dreamer, would choose The one obscured by sleep?
Here is the plantain by your door And the best cock of red feather That crew before the clocks.
A feme may come, leaf-green, Whose coming may give revel Beyond revelries of sleep,
Yes, and the blackbird spread its tail, So that the sun may speckle, While it creaks hail.
You dweller in the dark cabin, Rise, since rising will not waken, And hail, cry hail, cry hail.
The dweller in the dark cabin may be understood to be the specifically poetical dreamer, like the old sailor in "Disillusionment of Ten O'Clock". Stevens enjoins him not to sleep in his dream, but rather to explore its riches. If the sleeper rises to do so, he will not waken, for he is still in the dream. The poem should be compared to "Anecdote of Canna". (In another vein, it can also be compared to "Of Heaven Considered As a Tomb", in which the poet exhorts "interpreters" to "Make hue among the dark comedians" and "Halloo them in the topmost distances" as he in this poem exhorts his addressee, a "dweller in a dark cabin", to "hail, cry hail, cry hail".)
Interpretationedit
Doggett interprets the poem differently, without imputing a dream world explored by the poet. The dweller is the self, and the dark cabin is the body. The dweller's "sense of reality is obscured as though in a dream, but beside [his] cabin is the vivid actual plantain of green reality and the sun".[2]
Buttel comments on the poem's title. "How appropriate", he writes, "for Stevens' theme to infuse, by such imaginative conjoinings [American watermelon, French pavilion], the earthy, vigorous reality of America with the grace of French words. By such means he was able to be richly aesthetic without sacrificing vitality".[3]
hymn, from, watermelon, pavilion, hymn, from, watermelon, pavilion, poem, from, wallace, stevens, first, book, poetry, harmonium, first, published, 1917, public, domain, hymn, from, watermelon, pavilion, dweller, dark, cabin, whom, watermelon, always, purple, . Hymn From A Watermelon Pavilion is a poem from Wallace Stevens s first book of poetry Harmonium It was first published in 1917 so it is in the public domain 1 Hymn From A Watermelon Pavilion You dweller in the dark cabin To whom the watermelon is always purple Whose garden is wind and moon Of the two dreams night and day What lover what dreamer would choose The one obscured by sleep Here is the plantain by your door And the best cock of red feather That crew before the clocks A feme may come leaf green Whose coming may give revel Beyond revelries of sleep Yes and the blackbird spread its tail So that the sun may speckle While it creaks hail You dweller in the dark cabin Rise since rising will not waken And hail cry hail cry hail Contents 1 Poetic narrative 2 Interpretation 3 Notes 4 ReferencesPoetic narrative editThe dweller in the dark cabin may be understood to be the specifically poetical dreamer like the old sailor in Disillusionment of Ten O Clock Stevens enjoins him not to sleep in his dream but rather to explore its riches If the sleeper rises to do so he will not waken for he is still in the dream The poem should be compared to Anecdote of Canna In another vein it can also be compared to Of Heaven Considered As a Tomb in which the poet exhorts interpreters to Make hue among the dark comedians and Halloo them in the topmost distances as he in this poem exhorts his addressee a dweller in a dark cabin to hail cry hail cry hail Interpretation editDoggett interprets the poem differently without imputing a dream world explored by the poet The dweller is the self and the dark cabin is the body The dweller s sense of reality is obscured as though in a dream but beside his cabin is the vivid actual plantain of green reality and the sun 2 Buttel comments on the poem s title How appropriate he writes for Stevens theme to infuse by such imaginative conjoinings American watermelon French pavilion the earthy vigorous reality of America with the grace of French words By such means he was able to be richly aesthetic without sacrificing vitality 3 Notes edit Buttel p 206 Doggett p 374 Buttel pp 77 8 References editButtel Robert Wallace Stevens The Making of Harmonium Princeton University Press 1967 Doggett Frank The Poet of Earth Wallace Stevens In College English March 1961 Volume 22 Number 6 nbsp This article related to a poem is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Hymn from a Watermelon Pavilion amp oldid 995660790, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
