Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird
The Public Domain Poems of Wallace Stevens
Wallace Stevens
This collection of readings of 97 poems written and published by Wallace Stevens includes many of his better known works, including the “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird”, which we have used as a title, as it aptly conjures the multi-faceted, abstract nature of his work and its way of seeing the world. Also included are other well-loved classics such as “Anecdote of the Jar”, “The Emperor of Ice Cream”, "The Snow Man”, "Peter Quince at the Clavier”, and “Sunday Morning”. The poems were originally published in magazines, most notably in Poetry: A Magazine of Verse, and in Broom, Contact, The Dial, The Little Review, The Measure, The Modern School, The New Republic, Others, Rogue, Secession, and The Soil. Many of them appeared in Harmonium, Stevens’ first collection published in 1923.
Stevens is the quintessential Modernist poet, given to reflection and abstraction but resisting any kind of objective reality. In his view, reality is more of a dynamic activity, the product of the imagination shaping the world as it perceives and seeks coherence and understanding, with piecemeal and fluctuating results. He admired painters Paul Cezanne for his ability to reduce the visual world to a few key objects and Paul Klee for his use of imagined symbols, and sought a similar kind of verbal result in poetry. Accordingly, the poems abound in specific objects and rich visual imagery, which commingle with associated abstractions to produce a poetry that is “the Supreme fiction” that draws us to engage with a reality that resonates with truth, if only for a fleeting moment.
Play sample:
Product Details
| Read by: | Alan Davis Drake, Winston Tharp & Ruth Golding |
| Length: | 2 hours and 31 minutes |
| Type: | Solo reading |
| Media: | MP3 CD |
| Package: | DVD box |
| Item No.: | DB-1118 |
| EAN: | 0683422134388 |
| List Price: | $9.99 |
Credits
Production
Volume 1
Read by: Alan Davis Drake
Book Coordinator: Alan Davis Drake
Meta Coordinator: Ezwa
Volume 2
Read by: WInston Tharp and Ruth Golding
Book Coordinator: Ruth Golding
Meta Coordinator: Ruth Golding
Artwork
Cover: Drawing of three birds in flight by Leonardo da Vinci.
The Recordings
About MP3 Audio
This MP3 digital audiobook is duplicated on compact disc in the MP3 audio format and is designed to play on any computer. It will play on CD and DVD players that are designed with MP3 capability. The files contained in an MP3 CD can be imported and played on mobile devices such as the iPod, iPhone, iPad, Android tablets and smart phones and on PSP (Play Station Portable) and PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) devices. Your CD/DVD player or mobile device owner’s manual should specify whether the device has MP3 compatibility. If the device is not directly compatible with the MP3 Audio format, the files on the MP3 CD can be copied onto a computer drive and then played on the computer media player or transferred to a mobile device.
The Recordings
These recordings were made using the author’s original published work, which is in the public domain. The readings were recorded by members of Librivox.org, which has generously made the recordings available to the public domain. While Librivox condones the sale and distribution of these recordings, it is not associated with the management or operations of MP3 Audiobook Classics. The audio files have been lightly edited and have been engineered using professional audio tools for maximum sonic quality. We spend considerable time and effort to ensure the recordings are free of noise, equalized for maximum listener pleasure, and that tracks are leveled and normalized to provide a consistent listening experience.
Table of Contents
| Track | Title | Reader | Length |
| Volume 1 | |||
| 01 | 1-01 Anecdote of Canna | Alan Davis Drake | 0:57 |
| 02 | 1-02 Anecdote of Men by the Thousand | Alan Davis Drake | 1:16 |
| 03 | 1-03 Anecdote of the Jar | Alan Davis Drake | 1:04 |
| 04 | 1-04 Another Weeping Woman | Alan Davis Drake | 1:04 |
| 05 | 1-05 The Apostrophe to Vincentine | Alan Davis Drake | 1:40 |
| 06 | 1-06 Autumn | Alan Davis Drake | 0:47 |
| 07 | 1-07 Banal Sojourn | Alan Davis Drake | 1:32 |
| 08 | 1-08 Bantam in Pine-Woods | Alan Davis Drake | 1:15 |
| 09 | 1-09 The Bird with the Coppery Keen Claws | Alan Davis Drake | 1:36 |
| 10 | 1-10 Bowl | Alan Davis Drake | 0:51 |
| 11 | 1-11Carnet de Voyage | Alan Davis Drake | 4:11 |
| 12 | 1-12 Cortege for Rosenbloom | Alan Davis Drake | 1:50 |
| 13 | 1-13 The Cuban Doctor | Alan Davis Drake | 0:52 |
| 14 | 1-14 The Curtains in the House of the Metaphysician | Alan Davis Drake | 1:02 |
| 15 | 1-15 Depression Before Spring | Alan Davis Drake | 0:47 |
| 16 | 1-16 Disillusionment of Ten O'Clock | Alan Davis Drake | 1:02 |
| 17 | 1-17 Domination of Black | Alan Davis Drake | 1:33 |
| 18 | 1-18 Earthly Anecdote | Alan Davis Drake | 1:08 |
| 19 | 1-19 The Emperor of Ice Cream | Alan Davis Drake | 1:25 |
| 20 | 1-20 Explanation | Alan Davis Drake | 0:49 |
| 21 | 1-21Exposition of the Contents of a Cab | Alan Davis Drake | 1:07 |
| 22 | 1-22 The Florist Wears Knee-Breeches | Alan Davis Drake | 0:55 |
| 23 | 1-23 Frogs Eat Butterflies. Snakes Eat Frogs. Hogs Eat Snakes. Men Eat Hogs | Alan Davis Drake | 1:28 |
| 24 | 1-24 From a Junk | Alan Davis Drake | 0:49 |
| 25 | 1-25 From the Misey of Don Joost | Alan Davis Drake | 1:00 |
| 26 | 1-26 Gray Room | Alan Davis Drake | 1:09 |
| 27 | 1-27 Gubbinal | Alan Davis Drake | 0:53 |
| 28 | 1-28 Hibiscus on the Sleeping Shores | Alan Davis Drake | 1:17 |
| 29 | 1-29 Home Again | Alan Davis Drake | 0:34 |
| 30 | 1-30 Hymn from the Watermelon Pavilion | Alan Davis Drake | 1:24 |
| 31 | 1-31 In Battle | Alan Davis Drake | 0:55 |
| 32 | 1-32 The Indigo Glass in the Grass | Alan Davis Drake | 0:50 |
| 33 | 1-33 Infanta Marina | Alan Davis Drake | 0:57 |
| 34 | 1-34 Invective Against Swans | Alan Davis Drake | 1:11 |
| 35 | 1-35 Life Is Motion | Alan Davis Drake | 0:40 |
| 36 | 1-36 The Load of Sugar-Cane | Alan Davis Drake | 0:47 |
| 37 | 1-37 Lulu Gay | Alan Davis Drake | 1:04 |
| 38 | 1-38 Meditation | Alan Davis Drake | 0:50 |
| 39 | 1-39 O Florida Venereal Soil | Alan Davis Drake | 1:54 |
| 40 | 1-40 Outside the Hospital | Alan Davis Drake | 1:24 |
| 41 | 1-41 The Paltry Nude Starts on a Spring Voyage | Alan Davis Drake | 1:39 |
| 42 | 1-42 Peter Quince at the Clavier | Alan Davis Drake | 3:30 |
| 43 | 1-43 Phases | Alan Davis Drake | 2:07 |
| 44 | 1-44 The Place of the Solitaires | Alan Davis Drake | 1:05 |
| 45 | 1-45 Plowing on Sunday | Alan Davis Drake | 1:07 |
| 46 | 1-46 The Snowman | Alan Davis Drake | 1:10 |
| 47 | 1-47 Song - There Are Great Things Doing | Alan Davis Drake | 0:38 |
| 48 | 1-48 Tattoo | Alan Davis Drake | 0:52 |
| 49 | 1-49 Tea | Alan Davis Drake | 0:41 |
| 50 | 1-50 Theory | Alan Davis Drake | 0:47 |
| 51 | 1-51 Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird | Alan Davis Drake | 3:24 |
| 52 | 1-52 To the Roaring Wind | Alan Davis Drake | 0:32 |
| 53 | 1-53 Valley Candle | Alan Davis Drake | 0:42 |
| 54 | 1-54 The Wind Shifts | Alan Davis Drake | 1:00 |
| Volume 2 | |||
| 55 | 2-01 Architecture for the Ador | Winston Tharp | 2:49 |
| 56 | 2 02 Ballade of the Pink Parasol | Winston Tharp | 1:40 |
| 57 | 2-03 Colloquy with a Polish Aunt | Ruth Golding | 1:07 |
| 58 | 2-04 Cy est Pourtraicte Madame Ste Ursule et Les Unze Mille Vierges | Ruth Golding | 1:48 |
| 59 | 2-05 The Doctor of Geneva | Winston Tharp | 1:13 |
| 60 | 2-06 Fabliau of Florida | Winston Tharp | 0:50 |
| 61 | 2-07 A High-toned Old Christian Woman | Winston Tharp | 1:43 |
| 62 | 2-08 Homunculus et la Belle Etoile | Winston Tharp | 1:44 |
| 63 | 2-09 Inscription for a Monument | Winston Tharp | 0:56 |
| 64 | 2-10 ''Lettres d'un Soldat'' I IX | Ruth Golding | 10:18 |
| 65 | 2-11 Lulu Morose | Winston Tharp | 1:06 |
| 66 | 2-12 The Man Whose Pharynx Was Bad | Winston Tharp | 1:34 |
| 67 | 2-13 Metaphors of a Magnifico | Alan Davis Drake | 1:18 |
| 68 | 2-14 Moment of Light | Ruth Golding | 3:30 |
| 69 | 2-15 Le Monocle de Mon Oncle | Winston Tharp | 7:59 |
| 70 | 2-16 Nuances of a Theme by Williams | Winston Tharp | 1:09 |
| 71 | 2-17 Of Heaven Considered as a Tomb | Winston Tharp | 1:15 |
| 72 | 2-18 Of the Surface of Things | Winston Tharp | 1:02 |
| 73 | 2-19 On the Manner of Addressing Clouds | Winston Tharp | 1:14 |
| 74 | 2-20 The Ordinary Women | Winston Tharp | 1:42 |
| 75 | 2-21 Palace of the Babies | Winston Tharp | 1:25 |
| 76 | 2-22-Peter Parasol | Ruth Golding | 1:02 |
| 77 | 2-23 The Plot against the Giant | Ruth Golding | 1:08 |
| 78 | 2-24 Primordia | Winston Tharp | 3:56 |
| 79 | 2-25 Quatrain 'Go not young cloud' | Winston Tharp | 0:39 |
| 80 | 2-26 The Silver Plough-boy | Alan Davis Drake | 1:12 |
| 81 | 2-27 Six Significant Landscapes | Alan Davis Drake | 3:07 |
| 82 | 2-28 Song 'Ah yes! beyond these barren walls' | Winston Tharp | 0:53 |
| 83 | 2-29 Song 'She loves me or loves me not' | Winston Tharp | 0:48 |
| 84 | 2-30 Sonnet 'Come said the world' | Winston Tharp | 1:13 |
| 85 | 2-31 Sonnet 'If we are leaves that fall' | Winston Tharp | 1:16 |
| 86 | 2-32-Sonnet 'I strode along my beaches?' | Winston Tharp | 1:11 |
| 87 | 2-33 Sonnet 'Lo even as I passed' | Winston Tharp | 1:13 |
| 88 | 2-34 Sonnet 'There shines the morning star' | Winston Tharp | 1:15 |
| 89 | 2-35 Stars at Tallapoosa | Winston Tharp | 1:36 |
| 90 | 2-36 Street Songs | Winston Tharp | 2:53 |
| 91 | 2-37 Sunday Morning | Winston Tharp | 4:33 |
| 92 | 2-38 Tea at the Palaz of Hoon | Winston Tharp | 1:11 |
| 93 | 2-39 To the Morn | Winston Tharp | 1:16 |
| 94 | 2-40 To the One of Fictive Music | Winston Tharp | 2:24 |
| 95 | 2-41 Vita mea | Winston Tharp | 1:19 |
| 96 | 2-42 The Weeping Burgher | Winston Tharp | 1:09 |
| 97 | 2-43 The Worms at Heaven's Gate | Alan Davis Drake | 1:10 |
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