The Necessary Angel

In this collection of essays, consummate poet Wallace Stevens reflects upon his art. His aim is not to produce a work of criticism or philosophy, or a mere discussion of poetic technique. As he explains in his introduction, his ambition in these various pieces, published in different times and places, aimed higher than that, in the direction of disclosing "poetry itself, the naked poem, the imagination manifesting itself in its domination of words." Stevens proves himself as eloquent and scintillating in prose as in poetry, as he both analyzes and demonstrates the essential act of repossessing reality through the imagination.

I. The Noble Rider and the Sound of Words

II. The Figure of the Youth as Noble Poet

III. Three Academic Pieces

IV. About One of Marianne Moore's Poems

V. Effects of Analogy

VI. Imagination as Value

VII. The Relations between Poetry and Painting