Poetry is Religion

"God is a symbol for something that can as well take other forms, as, for example, the form of high poetry."

As I read through Adagia, I kept thinking that Stevens shouldn't give poetry so much credit. One line stuck out to me in particular: "Poetry is a purging of the world's poverty and change and evil and death. It is a present perfecting, a satisfaction in the irremediable poverty of life." Many other lines like this came up throughout, and he even places poetry on a higher pedestal than other art, such as music. But, it is clear that he is not just placing Poetry as the highest art form, he is making it into his "religion": his "big arch."

One thing relating Adagia to religion is the format in which it is written. It is so dense, and every line is a philosophical gold nugget: each could be explored in an essay of its own. One could quote a single line, full with meaning, just as people quote single lines of the Bible. Stevens also writes into Adagia ways for interpreting the text. However, this is only a side-affect of writing about his "big arch": According to Stevens, Poetry refers to everything, so it's no wonder that the written manifestation of it refers to itself. One thing he says is "A new meaning is the equivalent of a new word." Throughout the poem, he is constantly changing what words mean, mostly redefining what the word "poetry" means. He begins many lines with, "poetry is…" One in particular he repeats in various forms is, "Poetry is not a personal matter." This implies that even though Poetry is his "big arch", it is not just his. This implies a social aspect to poetry, which is also an aspect of religion.

The final thing which convinces me that Stevens' Adagia is the Bible to his "big arch," Poetry, is this nugget; "I have no life except in poetry." Stevens refers all of his life back to Poetry, which he describes as a way of looking at everything in the world. Thus, for Stevens, Poetry functions as religion.