Stephen Crane

II
II
In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said, “Is it good, friend?”
“It is bitter, bitter,” he answered;
“But I like it
Because it is bitter,
And because it is my heart.”

Oh, the parallels to Gilgamesh!
The desert: barren, because alone Enkidu/Giglamesh has no meaning, no [...]

Wallace Stevens: Do we even speak the same language?

Mr. Stevens’ work is very interesting.
But…
I have no idea what he means.
The first piece of his I looked at was:
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird IAmong twenty snowy mountains,The only moving thingWas the eye of the blackbird. III was of three minds,Like a treeIn which there are three blackbirds. IIIThe blackbird whirled in the autumn winds.It was [...]

Richard Wilbur. What connections.

So, I started reading his poems after one of those long conversations about the Iliad.
This is what happened.
The poem: A Hole in the Floor
The Carpenter’s made a hole
in the parlor floor, and I’m standing
staring down into it now
at four o clock in the evening,
as Schliemann stood when his shovel
knocked on the crowns of Troy.
A clean [...]