Sunday Morning Calling Card

Beautiful, totally confusing images

At a lot of points in this poem, you might find yourself thinking, "Wow, that’s an amazing image. Now, what the heck is he talking about?" What does it mean, for example, to say that, "a calm darkens among water-lights" (line 8)? Quite frankly, we don’t know. But, doesn’t it just sound awesome? That’s Stevens for you. If you don’t mind being baffled, check out his poem "Disillusionment of Ten O’Clock," which includes a baboon and a drunken sailor.