In this essay, I will explore what Wallace Stevens illustrated in his poem “Anecdote of the Jar”.
“Anecdote of the Jar” is a poem from Wallace Stevens’s first book of poetry, “Harmonium”, and it was first published in 1919. The poem consists of three four-line stanzas. In the poem there are used irregular rhymes and wording along with symbolism and repetition.
Though the poem has no definite rhyme scheme, it does have a rhythm – it is achieved by repeating the word “round” five times throughout the first eight lines: in line 2, line 4, in line 6, and twice in line 7. This repetition creates an image in which the jar takes dominion over the hill. Only one line that rhymes throughout the poem – “The jar was round upon the ground”1, is placed as close to the middle as possible. As the poem has no set rhyme scheme and is mostly free verse, this line serves as a reminder that this is a poem. The beginning of the poem seems to be loose and random, but then in the middle it has an order and further on it goes back to its original randomness.
Also, the word “Tennessee” is written only in the first and last lines and is the last word in both sentences, which also structures the poem. Most of the poem is written in iambic tetrameter with four stresses per line, but in some places the poet breaks this metric pattern to intensify an image.…
