If I Told Him, A Completed Portrait of Picasso

Exact resemblances, in “If I Told Him,” point toward a larger trend in the history of literary and visual arts towards mimesis. Mimetic art, as described at the beginning of the Western tradition by Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle, aimed to correspond with physical reality. This aim resulted in an emphasis on “proportion” (Line 53) and “Exact resemblance” (Line 13) between the art and its subject. In many Western conceptions of art that build upon the Greek tradition, resemblance stood as the model for art’s capacity to capture beauty and truth. This is particularly true of poetry and visual arts.

Stein engages with this idea throughout “If I Told Him,” and presents a non-linear argument that such mimetic ideals are impossible (See: Poem Analysis). This criticism, however, is complicated by the fact that it exists within Stein’s own attempt at a realistic depiction, albeit through abstract means.

Along with the related “queens” (Line 12) and “kings” (Lines 7, 9, 11), Napoleon acts as one of the poem’s few straight-forward symbols. Napoleon appears as a near-homophone of “if I told him” (Line 1), and as a representation of both primacy and history’s constant presence: “Who came first Napoleon at first. Who came first Napoleon the first” (Line 21).