Wallace Stevens Walk - Hartford, CT
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 41° 46.113 W 072° 41.257
18T E 692204 N 4626663
The Wallace Stevens Walk follows path of the poet from his workplace at the Hartford Insurance Co. to his home on Westerly Terrace. Along the way 13 granite stones are inscribed with a verse from his poem "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird".
Waymark Code: WMM8Y0
Location: Connecticut, United States
Date Posted: 08/12/2014
Views: 4
Wallace Stevens was an American poet born in Reading, PA in 1879. He attended Harvard University and the New York Law School then, in 1916, he joined the Hartford Accident & Indemnity Company, serving as vice president from 1934 until his death in 1955. He is considered one of the foremost modern American poets and was awarded the Pulitizer Prize in 1954 for his work Collected Poems.
Wallace Stevens never learned to drive. He would walk to and from work, often composing poetry along the way. Thirteen granite stones are erected along his path. Each inscribed with a stanza from his poem, "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" from his first book of poems - Harmonium.
I
Among twenty snowy mountains,
The only moving thing
Was the eye of the blackbird.
GPS: N41° 46.113; W72° 41.257
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II
I was of three minds,
Like a tree
In which there are three blackbirds.
GPS: N41° 46.171; W72° 41.456
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III
The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds.
It was a small part of the pantomime.
GPS: N41° 46.198; W72° 41.554
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IV
A man and a woman
Are one.
A man and a woman and a blackbird
Are one.
GPS: N41° 46.286; W72° 41.830
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V
I do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendoes,
The blackbird whistling
Or just after.
GPS: N41° 46.320; W72° 41.948
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VI
Icicles filled the long window
With barbaric glass.
The shadow of the blackbird
Crossed it, to and fro.
The mood
Traced in the shadow
An indecipherable cause.
GPS: N41° 46.350; W72° 42.054
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VII
O thin men of Haddam,
Why do you imagine golden birds?
Do you not see how the blackbird
Walks around the feet
Of the women about you?
GPS: N41° 46.337; W72° 42.132
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VIII
I know noble accents
And lucid, inescapable rhythms;
But I know, too,
That the blackbird is involved
In what I know.
GPS: N41° 46.429; W72° 42.286
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IX
When the blackbird flew out of sight,
It marked the edge
Of one of many circles.
GPS: N41° 46.596; W72° 42.657
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X
At the sight of blackbirds
Flying in a green light,
Even the bawds of euphony
Would cry out sharply.
GPS: N41° 46.710; W72° 42.690
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XI
He rode over Connecticut
In a glass coach.
Once, a fear pierced him,
In that he mistook
The shadow of his equipage
For blackbirds.
GPS: N41° 46.919; W72° 42.680
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XII
The river is moving.
The blackbird must be flying.
GPS: N41° 46.997; W72° 42.764
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XIII
It was evening all afternoon.
It was snowing
And it was going to snow.
The blackbird sat
In the cedar-limbs.
GPS: N41° 47.097; W72° 42.767
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While living in this home at 118 Westerly Terrace, Wallace Stevens wrote and published several collections of poems. Wikipedia list the following publications.
Poetry
Harmonium (1923)
Ideas of Order (1936)
Owl's Clover (1936)
The Man with the Blue Guitar (1937)
Parts of a World (1942)
Transport to Summer (1947)
The Auroras of Autumn (1950)
Collected Poems (1954)
Posthumous collections
Opus Posthumous (1957)
The Palm at the End of the Mind (1972)
Collected Poetry and Prose (New York: The Library of America, 1997)
Selected Poems (John N. Serio, ed.) (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009)
Prose
The Necessary Angel (essays) (1951)
Posthumous publications
Letters of Wallace James Stevens, edited by Holly Stevens (1966)
Secretaries of the Moon: The Letters of Wallace Stevens & Jose Rodriguez Feo, edited by Beverly Coyle and Alan Filreis (1986)
Sur plusieurs beaux sujects: Wallace Stevens's Commonplace Book, edited by Milton J. Bates (1989)
The Contemplated Spouse: The Letters of Wallace Stevens to Elsie Kachel, edited by D.J. Blount (2006)
Short Description: Wallace Stevens home and poem "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" on 13 granite blocks.
Book Title: Harmonium
First Year Published: 1923
Author's Name: Wallace Stevens
Name of Waymarked Item: Wallace Stevens Walk
Location of Item: Asylum Avenue, Terry Rd. Westerly Terrace - Hartford CT
More Information:
As you follow the path that Wallace Stevens walked to and from work, you read each of the 13 verses of his poem "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" and, at the end, view his home.
Admission Price?: 0.00 (listed in local currency)
Link to more information about the book or waymarked item.: [Web Link]
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