The Odyssey and the World as Meditation

The Odyssey and The World as Meditation

The World as Meditation is a poem written by Wallace Stevens. Stevens was born in Reading Pennsylvania on October 2, 1879 and died on August 2, 1955 at the age of seventy-six in Hartford Connecticut

(www. English.uiuc.edu). Stevens developed an interested in verse-writing at Harvard, soon after he was contributing to poetry and his first book was published in 1923(www. English.uiuc.edu). He felt that the reviews of his book were less than he wanted them to be so he stopped writing until the 1930’s (www. English.uiuc.edu). It is said that Wallace reached the peak of his career in his later years and especially with the release of “The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens” which includes The World as Meditation.

The poem shows great influence from the mythological work The Odyssey. It also has an introduction from a musical piece by Georges Enesco: “J'ai passй trop de temps а travailler mon violon, а voyager. “Mais l'exercise essentiel du compositeur -la mйditation- rien ne l'a jamais suspendu en moi... Je Vis UN rкve permanent, qui ne s’arrкte Ni nuit Ni jour “ (Stevens, 520) which translates to mean I spent too much time to be worked by my violin, to travel. But the essential exercise of the composer -the

meditation - nothing did not ever suspend it in me... I live a permanent dream that does not stop neither at night nor day. To start with a musical introduction goes to show that not only was Stevens influenced by music as well as mythology but that his poem also was to flow like music “MR. STEVENS has always been a poet for whom the precise tone of an idea or a feeling was all-important, a poet for whom words had a life of their own. He is not a dramatic poet and not in the usual sense, a lyric poet pouring out his feeling in song (Walton BR185)”. It is obvious once the poem starts that it has some type of influence from the Odyssey, the third word is Ulysses the famous name of that story. As the poem goes on it leans on the story of Ulysses or Odysseus (as known in Greek Mythology) and Penelope. It focuses on Penelope and her love and loyalty to Ulysses “She has composed, so long, a self with which to welcome him, companion to his self for her, which she imagined, two in a deep-founded sheltering, friend and dear friend”(Stevens 520, 521). An understanding of the Odyssey helps the reader of this poem to understand the full story; you can feel the words and understand the background of what this poem is about. Once you know the story behind the poem you think you already know what is going to happen but then Stevens puts his own twist on it, which makes you think of other possible ways that the story could be interpreted. The World as Meditation shows Penelope’s hope; “ She wanted nothing he could not bring her by coming alone. She wanted no fetchings.” … “But was it Ulysses? Or was it only the warmth of the sun on her pillow? The thought kept beating in her like her heart.” (Steven 521) she wanted Ulysses to return so bad that she envisioned it many times so many that it felt real each time but as she awoke she realized it was a dream a dream that seemed so attainable that she kept her hopes up knowing one day it would be reality. But could it be that maybe her dream was actually reality or did it just feel that real because her desire was so strong “ It was Ulysses and it was not. Yet they had met”(Stevens, 521). She could have also fallen in to a deep sleep or a coma to the dream of Ulysses actually returning home to her. Or it could be as the Odyssey tells it and as we know it, her passion for his return and her hope is so strong that he does return home and her waiting paid off. Because of the use of the word meditation in the title of the poem, its relation to the way it is used in the lyrics by Georges Enesco, and its meaning “a discourse intended to express its author's reflections or to guide others in contemplation” (www.m-w.com) it shows that Stevens intentions were to reflect his feelings and guide his readers to contemplate his interpretation of the story of Ulysses and Penelope and their story line in The Odyssey.

Stevens uses the myth to help him set the scene and the mood of the poem. The subject matter of the poem seems to be using a lot of nature with the mention of Ulysses and a lot of compassion, love and loyalty with Penelope. In the myth Ulysses has many quest involving the forest and nature, which helps Stevens to use that in Ulysses entrance to us in the poem “It is Ulysses that approaches from the east, the interminable adventurer? The trees are mended. That winter is washed away… A form of fire approaches the cretonees of Penelope” (Stevens 521). Penelope has continued hope and loyalty to Ulysses “Repeating his name with its patient syllables,