Anecdote of Canna

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Anecdote of Canna" is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, Harmonium (1923). It was first published prior to 1923 and is therefore in the public domain according to Librivox.[1]

Anecdote of Canna  Huge are the canna in the dreams of  X, the mighty thought, the mighty man.  They fill the terrace of his capitol.  His thought sleeps not. Yet thought that wakes  In sleep may never meet another thought  Or thing....Now day-break comes...  X promenades the dewy stones,  Observes the canna with a clinging eye,  Observes and then continues to observe.

In the poem's legerdemain the cryptic middle stanza conceals the sleight of hand. Poor X wakes in his sleep ("Now day-break comes") and consequently his eye clings to the canna forever.^[1] The cleverness of the poem links it to "The Worms at Heaven's Gate". The poetic conceit here may be contrasted with Descartes' philosophical proposition that a person must always be thinking when asleep, on pain of ceasing to exist.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ According to the 1913 Webster: A genus of tropical plants, with large leaves and often with showy flowers. The Indian shot ({Canna Indica}) is found in gardens of the northern United States.