I would appreciate your ideas and thoughts about
1. What you think the significance of the jar?
2. What suggests that significance?
3. How and why does it take dominion?

Anecdote of the Jar
By:Wallace Stevens

I placed a jar in Tennesse,
And round it was, upon a hill
It made the slovenly wilderness
Surround that hill.

The wilderness rose up to it,
And sprawled around, no longer wild.
The jar was round upon the ground.
And tall and of a port in air.

It took dominion everyewhere.
The jar was gray and bare.
It did not give of bird or bush,
Like nothing else in Tennesse.

Thats the best I could do, I'm probably off though.

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-Wuuuu.
-Plan for the worst; Pray for the best.

I would appreciate your ideas and thoughts about
1. What you think the significance of the jar?
2. What suggests that significance?
3. How and why does it take dominion?
----------------------------------------
Anecdote of the Jar
By:Wallace Stevens

I placed a jar in Tennesse,
And round it was, upon a hill
It made the slovenly wilderness
Surround that hill.

The wilderness rose up to it,
And sprawled around, no longer wild.
The jar was round upon the ground.
And tall and of a port in air.

It took dominion everyewhere.
The jar was gray and bare.
It did not give of bird or bush,
Like nothing else in Tennesse.
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I think the jar is a symbol of order/ orderliness/ pattern/ regulation.

Compare the jar with everything around it. The jar is round. But the environment and everything around the jar is "slovenly", "sprawled around". The roundess alone might not seem significant, but in comparison with the wilderness around it, the roundness makes the jar different from the rest of nature. Roundness - perfect symmetry - is an example of the type of intentional pattern and regulated order that does not occur naturally. It is also artifice, so the jar might represent human design, as well.

Ok, so how and why dominion? Hmmm. Again, I think the jar's orderliness, the constructed orderliness of something round points out the organic disorder of things it is compared to. Also, the jar's immutability seems important. Everything else changes, grows, gives of itself. But the jar remains fixed, and unchanging.

I don't know, maybe that doesn't make sense. good luck.

Did you pick this yourself or was it assigned? I would have taken "The Snowman" if it were a choice.

My take is this - no matter how much you try to force something to matricaulte into a different environment sometimes it just doesn't happen. Then again, that's not always a bad thing, it keeps the beautiful things beautiful and the gritty things gritty.

Send me an email if you want some more of his poetry. I have a ton of hit on my hard drive.

I had a very short list and by all means this seems to have been the best choice. Thanks for all the help. I think my paper is going to be short

i could help you except for one thing. i know absolutely dick about that poem. now if we were talking about emerson, thoreau, poe, bradstreet, bradford, douglas, or any of the other romanticist or transcadentalist or putirans i could help you out.

we watvched fear bd loiarthig in las vegas i fucong love that movie!!!

theres a hole in your head theres hole in your head where the birds cant siung along
i wanna cry but i gotta laugh big bang baby is a laugh laugh laugh

We, people are the jar and we take over and subdue and enclose prestien environments.

It of course, did not work...the hill rose up to the jar, yet no longer wild, yet knew it was different...the jar served no purpose there. The reason for the placement did.

It had nothing to offer, to bird or bush...but, because of it's placement on top of the hill...it stood out, therefore dominion.....kind of weird, and not to my liking of course....A good way to look at this particular poem is the " Message in a Bottle " type idea, though there is no message in the bottle, the message, or rather thought is still there...<wink>
Try this one, much easier, though " different " in it's own right.

MACHINE

Peace is a demon resting inside all of us
Can�t let the demon free
It is chaos that keeps us going
To carry us to enlightenment
We are brought together by nothing
Locked with our dreamscape
The dream that becomes reality
Soon is nothing but myths
Our greatness is nothing
But a faith in ourselves
An understanding of our fears
The mass we seek
Can be felt be reaching out
It will find the destination
Within us
To become us
No knowledge is beyond our limits
Feel the earth with our eyes
Touch the sun with our soul
Sometimes the pain is concealed in sugar
Sweet touch of death
We survive off sarcasm and irony
Letting it build to a fester
Until the explosion
Creates the�
Machine�
Only a beginning�
Never an end�

I placed a jar in Tennessee,
And round it was, upon a hill.
It made the slovenly wilderness
Surround that hill.

The three stanzas of the poem move in a circling pattern, repeating first elements in a jubilant manner and gradually coming closer to the concentrated focus of the third stanza: "The jar was gray and bare." The jar serves as an extension of the poet's own drive to order, but it achieves dominion over the chaotic wilderness precisely because it is inanimate. "It did not give of bird or bush." The jar does not itself move or change; it merely sheds influence. The source of its power is its perfection of empty form. It is "of a port in air," stately and imposing but also vacant, a mere circular opening in the air. The dominion of the jar is evoked on the level of sound and image by the repetition of the word round. The jar is round upon a rounded piece of ground, a hill, and the image of roundness is picked up again, phonetically, in the word ground: "The jar was round upon the ground." Stevens catches the assimilation of chaos to order in the moment of transformation. The wilderness, though "slovenly," surrounds the hill, and though it sprawls, it sprawls "around." The transformation to controlled pattern is reflected even in the metrical structure of the poem. The smoothness of contour in the short, tight iambic lines is broken only once, by "slovenly wilderness," and at this point the wilderness is already being rounded up. The word slovenly is a backward glance at irregularity. Whatever potential form or roundness there may be in the wilderness answers to the realized form of the jar. The jar simply is round, and because it is round, the wilderness moves to surround it.

The jar in Tennessee represents a purely formal principle of order, and this kind of order cannot satisfy the deepest needs of Stevens' imagination. He ultimately seeks not only to impose order on the external world but to integrate the mind and the world within a sentient unity of being. As long as he remains fixed within a dualistic conception of the world, this fulfillment will elude him.

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:::bitch betta have mah money:::

I'ts a damn shitty poem that's for sure. That gives the genre a bad name....jesus...readin crap like that in poetry class and people thinking it was brilliant...absolute bullshit.

yo dis poem celebrates some moment uh aesdetic triumph. Lop some boogie. Stevens achieves dis triumph by means uh a tactic similar t'dat uh "De Snow Man"; he transfers his own imaginative activity t'an inhuman medium. WORD! De effect uh dis tactic in "Anecdote uh de Jar" be to represent da damn conflict between de mind and 'esternal reality as an imsucka'al play uh aesdetic fo'ces, dig dis:
I placed some jar in Tennessee,
And round it wuz, downon some hill.
It made da damn slovenly wilderness
Surround dat hill.

De dree stanzas uh de poem move in some circlin' pattern, repeatin' fust elements in some jubilant manna' and gradually comin' closa' to de concentrated focus uh de dird stanza, dig dis: "De jar wuz gray and bare." De jar serves as an 'estension uh de poet's own roll t'o'der, but it achieves dominion upside de chaotic wilderness precisely cuz' it be inanimate. "It dun did not cut of bird o' bush. Lop some boogie." De jar duz not itself move o' change; it merely sheds influence. De source uh its powa' is its puh'fecshun uh empty fo'm. WORD! It be "of some po't in air," stately and imposin' but also vacant, some mere circular openin' in de air. Ah be baaad... De dominion uh de jar be evoked on de level uh sound and image by de repetishun uh de wo'd round. De jar be round downon some rounded piece uh ground, some hill, and da damn image uh roundness be picked down again, phonetically, in de wo'd ground, dig dis: "De jar wuz round downon de ground." Stevens catches de assimilashun uh chaos t'o'da' in de moment uh transfo'mashun. De wilderness, dough "slovenly," surrounds de hill, and dough it sprawls, it sprawls "around." De transfo'mashun t'controlled pattern be reflected even in de metrical structure uh de poem. WORD! De smoodness uh contour in de sho't, tight iambic lines be bugger'd only once, by "slovenly wilderness," and at dis point da damn wilderness be already bein' rounded down. De wo'd slovenly be a backward glance at irregularity. Slap mah fro! Whuteva' potential fo'm o' roundness dere may be in de wilderness answers t'de realized fo'm uh de jar. Ah be baaad... De jar simply be round, and cuz' it be round, de wilderness moves t'surround it. Man!

De jar in Tennessee represents some purely fo'mal principle uh o'der, and dis kind'a o'da' cannot satisfy de deepest needs uh Stevens' imaginashun. He ultimately seeks not only t'impose o'da' on de 'esternal wo'ld but t'integrate da damn mind and da damn wo'ld widin some sentient unity uh bein'. As long as he remains fixed widin some dualistic concepshun uh de wo'ld, dis fulfillment gots'ta elude him. WORD!

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:::bitch betta gots mah bre'd:::

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