22 pages • 44 minutes read
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird
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Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“The Eagle” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1851)
While Stevens crafts multiple images of a blackbird, the Victorian poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson creates a single image of an eagle. Like Stevens’s blackbirds and their landscapes, the eagle and its landscape threaten and hint at danger. Unlike the God-like blackbirds, the eagle, though ostensibly strong, appears vulnerable and more like the men in Haddam.
“The Snow Man” by Wallace Stevens (1921)
“The Snow Man” is another well-known Stevens poem from his Harmonium collection. While blackbirds play a key role in the title and in the poem, Stevens never explicitly mentions a snow man in “The Snow Man.” As with “Thirteen Ways,” Stevens emphasizes wintry landscapes, suggesting that a certain coldness—dispassion or stoicism—can help a person see.
“So This is Nebraska” by Ted Kooser (1980)
Though Kooser critiques the difficult kind of poetry represented by Modernism, Stevens, and “Thirteen Ways,” many of Kooser’s poems connect to Modernism and Imagism. In “So This is Nebraska,” Kooser, who was born in the Midwest and lived in Nebraska for most of his life, presents a fragmented, somewhat creepy image of the state. Like the speaker in Stevens’s poem, Kooser’s speaker possesses nobility and detects the ebullient spirit in the dilapidated surroundings.
Further Literary Resources
“Art as Technique” by Victor Shklovsky (1917)
Shklovsky is a well-known Russian literary theorist, and in this essay, he articulates his ideas about defamiliarization; the goal of the poet is to take something and make it seem strange and new. Shklovsky’s theory provides another perspective on Stevens’s poem—he’s trying to defamiliarize the blackbird so that the reader can look at it with fresh eyes and see things they might have overlooked or taken for granted.
The Necessary Angel by Wallace Stevens (1951)
Stevens’s collections of essays elucidate his views on poetry, reality, and imagination. He views the poet as a distinct person with an “elite” character. Through their “nobility,” they can resist the overwhelming onslaught of modern reality and use their imagination to create a thoughtful world. The poet is not like the men of Haddam, but they are more like the blackbird—agile and free.
13 Ways Of Looking at a Fat Girl by Mona Awad (2016)
Stevens’s poem has produced countless works beginning with “Thirteen Ways,” and one of them is the first novel by the Canadian writer Mona Awad. While Stevens’s poem is mostly mysterious and impersonal, Awad’s novel centers on personal identity and its perils. Like the blackbird, the main character Elizabeth remains elusive, and she also inhabits a harmful environment due to modernity.
Listen to Poem
The YouTube channel Poetry Reading Live posted this recording of an older Stevens reading his poem, and his purposeful, methodical voice enhances the sharp images.
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Related Titles
By Wallace Stevens
