Analysis of Wallace Stevens' "On Modern Poetry"

There is something to be said for a man who can look deeply into his profession and define exactly what is that he does. The deaths of many men have passed without a definition of their lives, or a true understanding of what they do. In his poem "On Modern Poetry," Wallace Stevens attempts to define his life's work and his passion. To a poet "On Modern Poetry" serves as both a guidebook and a …

…nice to see what a poem writer thinks about his job. It is amazing to see that a poem can be made of any topic, and maybe that provides another point in the description of poetry. In a 28-line poem Wallace succeeds in providing a guidebook in the writing of good poetry, and gives the reader a lot to think about. But, as Wallace says himself, "The poem of the act of the mind" (l. 28).