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I am the spouse. She took her necklace off And laid it in the sand. As I am, I am The spouse. She opened her stone-studded belt. I am the spouse, divested of bright gold, The spouse beyond emerald or amethyst, Beyond the burning body that I bear. I am the woman stripped more nakedly Than nakedness, standing before an inflexible Order, saying I am the contemplated spouse.

Wallace Stevens#140

IdentityTruthOrderMaterialism

About this quote

What does it mean?
The speaker embraces a stripped, essential identity beyond material wealth, facing an order alone.
In plain terms
I am the woman without jewels, standing naked before order.
What can you take from it?
True identity is found by shedding material wealth.

Where it applies

  • self-reflection
  • facing judgment
  • losing status

Putting it to work

  • shed vanity
  • face order
  • embrace identity

Questions to consider

  • Who are you without your possessions?
  • What order do you face?

Another view

It assumes material wealth is always an obstacle to truth.

More from Wallace Stevens

  1. The fluctuations of certainty, the change Of degrees of perception in the scholar's dark.

    Permalink to quote #139
  2. Clothe me entire in the final filament, So that I tremble with such love so known And myself am precious for your perfecting.

    Permalink to quote #141
  3. Tonight the lilacs magnify The easy passion, the ever-ready love Of the lover that lies within us and we breathe An odor evoking nothing, absolute. We encounte…

    Permalink to quote #138

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