The Worms at Heaven's Gate

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Worms at Heaven's Gate is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, Harmonium (1923). It was first published in 1916^[1] and is therefore in the public domain.

Worms at Heaven's Gate Out of the tomb, we bring Badroulbadour, Within our bellies, we her chariot. Here is an eye. And here are, one by one, The lashes of that eye and its white lid. Here is the cheek on which that lid decline, And, finger after finger, here, the hand, The genius of that cheek. Here are the lips, The bundle of the body and the feet. . . . . . . . . . . . Out of the tomb we bring Badroulbadour.

The title is probably an allusion to William Shakespeare's Sonnet 29 ("When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes...") wherein the words "Hymns at Heaven's Gate" appear. Badroulbadour was a princess married to Aladdin in a fairytale from 1001 Nights.

Robert Buttel sees the poem as a specimen of Stevens's "grotesque strain" and wryly observes that "it would be difficult to find a more unique funeral procession in literature." ^[2] He credits William Carlos Williams for improving the line "Within our bellies, we her chariot." from the original "Within our bellies, as a chariot."^[3]

The overall impression is at once macabre and archly humorous. Thoughts of death and decay are secondary to the sound of 'Badroulbadour', the verb 'decline', and the poem's syntactic architecture. But in essence the poem conveys a sense of the transient nature of beauty. For another perspective on this transience see "Peter Quince at the Clavier".

The poem may be compared to "Anecdote of Canna", which describes a unique terrace stroll, and to "Of Heaven Considered as a Tomb", which speculates on the other side of death.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Buttel, p. 188
2. ^ Buttel, p. 188
3. ^ An excerpt from Williams's letter to Stevens dated June 8, 1916: "I think the second version is much better for the reason that THE WORMS ARE HER CHARIOT and not only seem her chariot. Then again: "bellies" "as a chariot" (plural and singular) sounds badly while "we her chariot" has more of a collective sense and feels more solid. What do you say?

   For Christ's sake yield to me
   become great and famous.
   Williams

   (Buttel, p. 190)

[edit] References

• Buttel, R. Wallace Stevens: The Making of Harmonium. 1968: Princeton University Press.