Wallace
Stevens, in The idea of Order at Key West
writes of a haunting and enchanted song sung by a woman as she walks
alongside the melody of the sea. His vivid descriptions of the turbulent air
and violent waters act to reveal his emotional response not to the sea, but to
the woman's song. He explains this quite simply with his first line 'she sang
beyond the genius of the sea' and he continues to reinforce his belief that the
woman' song holds more sway than the sea with other phrases: 'the water never
formed to mind or voice', the water held no sway over the listener, 'fluttering
its empty sleeves' the sound had no substance, 'its mimic motion', try as it
might to follow the woman's song the sea could not compete.
Stevens
continues his discourse by asking 'whose spirit is this?' The woman's song
comes to represent the human power to create, 'For she was the maker of this
song she sang'. Her song holds more power over the sea which was 'sound alone'
because it was created by a human mind. And because the listener 'knew it was
the spirit that we sought and knew that we should ask [whose spirit is this]
often as she sang' he knew that he understood the song because there was some
human element to it for which he could search. And by searching and seeking to
understand that internal spirit he could understand the words she sang. This
spirit 'of ourselves and our origins' is the lens through which the human mind
understands and orders the world. His last image of a night sea defined by the
lights of the fishing boats, reveals how the mind uses the lens of self to
understand the world and without this lens many would be lost. But in this lost
state is where man may find and create 'in ghostlier demarcations, keener
sounds.' In other words, the way man understands and sees his world is defined
by his experiences or his origins. But in places where man's mind fails to see
through his lens of self, true creation can occur.
