[Skip Navigation]

Plagiarist Poetry Sites: Plagiarist.com | Poetry X | Poetry Discussion Forums | Open Poetry Project | Joycean.org
Enter our Poetry Contest
Win Cash and Publication!

Plagiarist.com Archive

Read more poems by Wallace Stevens: Wallace Stevens Poems at Poetry X.

More poems by Wallace StevensWallace Stevens | Print this page.Print | View and Write CommentsComments | Books by Wallace StevensBooks by Wallace Stevens

The Well Dressed Man With A Beard

Wallace Stevens

After the final no there comes a yes
And on that yes the future world depends.
No was the night. Yes is this present sun.
If the rejected things, the things denied,
Slid over the western cataract, yet one,
One only, one thing that was firm, even
No greater than a cricket's horn, no more
Than a thought to be rehearsed all day, a speech
Of the self that must sustain itself on speech,
One thing remaining, infallible, would be
Enough. Ah! douce campagna of that thing!
Ah! douce campagna, honey in the heart,
Green in the body, out of a petty phrase,
Out of a thing believed, a thing affirmed:
The form on the pillow humming while one sleeps,
The aureole above the humming house...
It can never be satisfied, the mind, never.

Added: 24 Aug 2001 | Last Read: 7 Jun 2025 11:16 PM | Viewed: 6508 times

A PoetryNotes™ Analysis of The Well Dressed Man With A Beard by Wallace Stevens, is Available!

A PoetryNotes™ eBook is available for this poem for delivery within 24 hours, and usually available within minutes during normal business hours.

ON SALE - only $29.95 19.95!

For more information...


URL: http://plagiarist.com/poetry/1030/ | Viewed on 7 June 2025.
Copyright ©2025 Plagiarist - All rights reserved.