Fabliau of Florida

"Fabliau of Florida" is a poem in Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, "Harmonium".

In a letter written in 1939, Stevens says that he has always likedthis poem, not because of its sense, "because it does not have a greatdeal of sense", but because of "the feeling of the words and thereaction and images that the words create". [Stevens, p. 341.]

Mark Strand asserts that the poem, though seemingly about theliminal space between sea and shore, is really about the liminal spacebetween poem and reality. He suggests that this becomes clear once oneappreciates the pun on the first and last words of the poem, namely"barque" and"surf". [http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/authors/stevens/poem.html] Some readers are withholding judgment until the pun is explained.

Notes

References

• Stevens, Holly (ed.). "Letters of Wallace Stevens". 1966: University of California Press.