Abstract

Wallace Stevens is frequently identified as an abstractly intellectual poet who thoughtfully considered the relationship between reality and imagination as well as the possible attitudes of the poet toward both spheres. In fact, Stevens is the poet of intelligence who fully recognized the practical and necessary utility of intelligence expressed through poetry. In a tradition with Epicurean roots, Stevens became the modern exponent of "ministering angels," of permanent change and uncertainty, and of fictions consciously recognized, designed and prized. ;This dissertation probes the various philosophical resonances and intertextual relationships pertinent to Stevens' knowledge of, and pre-disposition toward, the philosophies of "impermanence" and metaphysical scepticism associated with the thought of Epicurus, Lucretius, Santayana, Bergson, and William James, with additional reference to Emerson, Vaihinger and Valery. Using "Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction" as conceptual framework, I argue that Stevens maintained a life-long personal dialogue with his precursors through his philosophical poetry. ;The primary focus of the analysis is upon the resonances between Santayana and Stevens. Although Stevens credited Bergson and James as the philosophers fundamental to his own "view of philosophy," I believe that Stevens agreed primarily with Santayana that the individual must create imaginative fictions--beliefs--which serve the necessary expediency of daily human enterprise in an age of transcendental uncertainty. Stevens actively sought to conjoin the independent spheres of reality and imagination through conscious, intelligent activity in order to create meaning, enjoyment and value for himself and society out of the chaos of manifold reality and multiple, subjective beliefs. ;I indicate the manner and nature of Stevens' revision of his precursors' works as he created an "impermanent" poetry in philosophy and tone. Throughout the dissertation, I concentrate attention upon Stevens' texts as the means and result of his philosophical and assimilative meditations. Using Epicurean philosophy as foundation, I consider the personal dialogue reflected in the selection of abstraction, change and pleasure as primary "Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction." My narrative indicates Stevens' tentative solution to societal needs and highlights later concerns he may have had with the philosophical and poetic optimism he presented in the "Notes."