The Man Whose Pharynx Was Bad

This poem was first published in The New Republic, Vol. XXVIII (September 14, 1921), p. 74, and appears here as it did in that publication. When Stevens included it in Harmonium (Second Edition [New York: Alfred A. Knopf; 1931]), he omitted lines 10 through 13; nor do they appear in Collected Poems (New York: Alfred A. Knopf; 1954). While it might seem that this was an oversight, it apparently was intentional: a copy of the magazine in the editor’s possession, filed together with a letter relating to new poems for inclusion in the second edition of Harmonium, has the lines clearly crossed out in pencil.

The Comedian as the Letter C, Part V, A Nice Shady Home

In Collected Poems the penultimate word in the third line is “prickling.” In both editions of Harmonium, however, the word is “pricking,” which has been restored here.

Anecdote of the Prince of Peacocks

An early version, found in manuscript, reads as follows:

In the land of the peacocks, the prince thereof,

Grown weary of romantics, walked alone,

In the first of evening, pondering.

“The deuce!” he cried.

And by him, in the bushes, he espied

A white philosopher.

The white one sighed—

He seemed to seek replies,

From nothingness, to all his sighs.

“My sighs are pulses in a dreamer’s death!”

Exclaimed the white one, smothering his lips.

The prince’s frisson reached his fingers’ tips.

Autumn Refrain

The eighth line, as the poem appears here, was included when the poem was first published in Hound and Horn, Vol. V (Winter 1932), p. 222. It was omitted in Ideas of Order (New York: Alcestis Press; 1935, and Alfred A. Knopf, 1936), and in Collected Poems.

Like Decorations in a Nigger Cemetery, Part XXVI

The third word of the first line, both in manuscript and as first published in Poetry, Vol. XLV (February 1935), pp. 239–49, is “pastiche.” It has not been changed here.

[Prose statement on the poetry of war]

These paragraphs, untitled, appear on the page facing the last page of “Examination of the Hero in a Time of War,” as the last page (unnumbered) of Parts of a World (New York: Alfred A. Knopf; 1942). When Collected Poems was being prepared, Stevens agreed with his editor that they should be omitted.

Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction, Dedication

For a discussion as to whether the opening lines are part of the dedication to Henry Church, see Letters of Wallace Stevens (New York: Alfred A. Knopf; 1966), p. 538, where Stevens says “the first eight lines have nothing to do with Mr. Church: they are by way of an introduction to the poem.” The opening, as printed here, restores the order of original publication.

Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction, It Must Give Pleasure, Part VIII

The penultimate word in the second line is “violet” in The Cummington Press editions of this poem (Cummington, Mass., 1942; second edition, 1943). “Violent” first appears as the poem is printed in Transport to Summer (New York: Alfred A. Knopf; 1947), and has not been changed here. My thanks to William Burney, Central Connecticut State College, for calling this discrepancy to my attention.