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I am one of you and being one of you Is being and knowing what I am and know. Yet I am the necessary angel of earth, Since, in my sight, you see the earth again, Cleared of its stiff and stubborn, man-locked set And, in my hearing, you hear its tragic drone Rise liquidly in liquid lingerings, Like watery words awash; like meanings said By repetitions of half-meanings. Am I not, Myself, only half a figure of a sort, A figure half seen, or seen for a moment, a man Of the mind, an apparition appareled in Apparels of such lightest look that a turn Of my shoulders and quickly, too quickly, I am gone?

Wallace Stevens#16

PoetryRealityPerceptionIdentitySelfTransience

About this quote

What does it mean?
The speaker claims to reveal the earth more clearly while acknowledging they are only a temporary mental construct. They are a 'necessary angel' who helps others see reality.
In plain terms
I help others see the world clearly even though I am not fully real.
What can you take from it?
Recognize the role of perception in revealing reality.

Where it applies

  • philosophical inquiry
  • literary analysis
  • self-reflection

Putting it to work

  • essay writing
  • art interpretation
  • philosophy study

Questions to consider

  • Are we merely observers or participants?
  • What makes something real?

Another view

It questions the reliability of the observer.

More from Wallace Stevens

  1. I am the angel of reality, Seen for a moment standing in the door.

    Permalink to quote #15
  2. Style is not something applied. It is something that permeates. It is of the nature of that in which it is found, whether the poem, the manner of a god, the be…

    Permalink to quote #17
  3. One might have thought of sight, but who could think Of what it sees, for all the ill it sees? Speech found the ear, for all the evil sound, But the dark itali…

    Permalink to quote #14

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