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The Palm at the End of the Mind: Selected Poems and a Play Paperback – February 19, 1990

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 52 ratings

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This selection of works by Wallace Stevens--the man Harold Bloom has called “the best and most representative American poet”--was first published in 1967. Edited by the poet's daughter Holly Stevens, it contains all the major long poems and sequences, and every shorter poem of lasting value in Stevens' career, including some not printed in his earlier Collected Works. Included also is a short play by Stevens, "Bowl, Cat and Broomstick."
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"The Palm at the End of the Mind, superbly edited by Holly Stevens, will be the definitive text for students and readers of Wallace Stevens for several decades. Unlike earlier selected volumes, it gives all the major long poems and sequences, and every shorter poem of lasting value. Its arrangement in probable order of composition clarifies the entire shape of Stevens development, particularly by its restoration of crucial late lyrics the poet simply forgot to include in the Collected Poems. Other major benefits given us by the volume include the convenience of having in one place the best of Collected Poems, Opus Posthumous, and the poems heretofore available only in The Necessary Angel. Add to this the powerful early poem 'For an Old Woman in a Wig', the play Bowl, Cat and Broomstick, the prose statement on the poetry of war, the restored lines of 'The Man Whose Pharynx Was Bad,' and a number of vital textual corrections throughout, and some sense of the enormous value of this book will be achieved. Here is the indispensable presentation of a central American poet, the best and most representative of our time."

-- Harold Bloom, Yale University

From the Inside Flap

A collection that all the major long poems and sequences, and every shorter poem of lasting value in Stevens' career. Edited by Holly Stevens, it includes some poems not printed in his earlier Collected Works.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage; First Edition (February 19, 1990)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0679724451
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0679724452
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.2 x 0.93 x 7.98 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 52 ratings

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4.6 out of 5 stars
52 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers praise the poetry as wonderful and a great achievement of language and art. They find the poems insightful, illuminating the nature of thought and imagination. The book contains letters and other ancillary material that readers find interesting.

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7 customers mention "Poetry quality"7 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the poetry's quality. They find the words wonderful, a major achievement of language and art. The resonance of the language and meaning illustrate and illuminate the nature of thought, imagination, meaning, possibility, and tragedy.

"...This is a massive achievement of language and art. This is something you really shouldn’t miss." Read more

"I recommend this book to others. It is an excellent selection of poems by Wallace Stevens...." Read more

"...Stevens is definitely our best poet. So many wonderful words!" Read more

"...I like the book for the way the poems are presented on the page, with lots of white space around them available for penciling in your own notes; that..." Read more

3 customers mention "Pacing"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the book engaging. It reveals aspects of their lives they never knew about, illuminating the nature of thought, imagination, and meaning. The book contains letters and other ancillary material of interest.

"...So the poems – pretty much all of them – tell us things about our lives we never would have seen without the emotional resonances they create...." Read more

"...That edition also contains letters and other ancillary material of interest...." Read more

"...their articulation and resonance illustrating and illuminating the nature of thought, imagination, meaning, possibility, and tragedy." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2014
    These poems are sometimes thought to be difficult. That’s a bad rap. The poems mean exactly what they say and little “interpretation” is needed. But there is so much “meaning” packed into so few words that you really have to spend some time to get it all out. The poetic language allows us to see the world in a new light – a light created by the emotions generated by the poems themselves.

    Take the title piece. It brings us to “the end of the mind, beyond the last thought.” This is the place in our brains where structure and function take over from social artifice. It is a highly formal structure: a “bronze décor” where complex constructs (the palm, a golden-feathered bird) exist. It is also a well-known concept in neurobiology – one that postulates our “higher” brain is built on primitive substrates. What’s more, it’s really not possible for our “higher selves” to communicate directly with these deeply embedded structures – the bird “sings a foreign song beyond human meaning…”

    Does this have any relevance to us, to our lives in the world above? Hell yes! These base structures provided by biology and evolution trigger our responses to the immediate world. “We know then that it is not the reason that makes us happy.” It is something more basic, a thing we can never truly understand, except perhaps through our emotional responses to the world as seen in art, song or poetry. “The bird sings, the sun shines, its fire-fangled feathers dangle down.”

    So the poems – pretty much all of them – tell us things about our lives we never would have seen without the emotional resonances they create. This is a massive achievement of language and art. This is something you really shouldn’t miss.
    9 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2022
    This copy is a replacement for my original copy of The Palm at the End of the Mind, which I have read so many times that it was falling apart. Although there are some aspects of Stevens' work that I can't quite get into (some of the long poems go on too long; sometimes his language is too high-falutin'), he's still my favorite poet. I hope it's not too strange for me to say that Allen Ginsberg is my next favorite poet. William Carlos Williams is next on that list. Stevens' two most famous poems are "The Emperor of ice Cream" and "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird." "Blackbird" is one of my favorites, along with "Peter Quince at the Clavier," "Earthy Anecdote," and "Anecdote of the Prince of Peacocks." Don't forget me, Stevens says!
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2022
    I recommend this book to others. It is an excellent selection of poems by Wallace Stevens. My online English college professor chose it for our class to read and discuss in our Zoom cclass this year. The bookseller did an excellent job of careful packaging. They showed they really cared that the book arrive in good condition, and it did. It arrived very quickly. The bookseller provided excellent service. I highly recommend them.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2017
    I wanted THE PALM AT THE END OF THE MIND in hard cover because the paperback I bought in 1967 for one of my college English lit courses had become to fragile to read. That was my introduction to Wallace Stevens, and I was immediately and permanently smitten! I now have this hard cover as companion to the hard cover of THE COLLECTED POEMS OF WALLACE STEVENS that I scrimped and saved to purchase in 1971. I read something from one of them at least every day, and I still find gems that grab me by the mind. Stevens is definitely our best poet. So many wonderful words!
    6 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2010
    This is a review of this particular collection, not of Stevens' poetry; others have done that. I'll just say that T.S. Eliot and W.B. Yeats were once my favorite 20th century poets, but I have come to rate Stevens ahead of both. You could spend the rest of your life on Stevens and die knowing that you did not exhaust what was to be found there.

    This compilation of Stevens' poems was selected by his daughter, Holly Stevens. The poems are a selection, not the author's complete works, and they are presented in the order in which they were written. I like the book for the way the poems are presented on the page, with lots of white space around them available for penciling in your own notes; that's something you are likely to do a lot of with Stevens' poetry. (Then changing your mind, erasing, and writing new notes...)

    But otherwise the Library of America volume is to be preferred, because it is complete, not a selection, and because the poems are organized by the successive books of poems Stevens published. That edition also contains letters and other ancillary material of interest. But the LOA volume also has very thin pages and little margin space for notations. So, I've got the LOA volume for reference and this "Palm" volume for notations. Works out pretty well, and between the the two you have just about everything.
    19 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2019
    Wallace Stevens was a incredible poet! Some have said his work is difficult to understand, which may or may not be true. To me, each time I read one of his poems, I find deeper meaning in his words--and that's what great poetry is all about.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2020
    The older I get, the more sence Wallace Stevens makes.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2018
    If you admire the poetry of Wallace Stevens, but only know a few poems here and there, I would definitely recommend this book!
    2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Gunveen Kaur
    1.0 out of 5 stars Looks like a pirated copy
    Reviewed in India on August 4, 2024
    Paid ₹638 and it still looks pirated with all its blurry words and I don’t understand Amazon — why write eligible for return if they are not taking it back 🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️
  • Keith Conner (AKA KeefKonna)
    5.0 out of 5 stars The definitive, at the moment, collection of Wallace Steven's Works in chronological order.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 13, 2018
    A real work of love by Holly Stevens, his daughter,
    to put together a manageable, chronological,
    reasonably slim volume which re-aligns Wallace Stevens as a writer;
    it is an overview of the work of this important
    Modernist 20th Century writer, thinker and poet from the United States.
    This book helps us make sense of the power and stature of Steven Wallace and his work;
    no mean feat.
    Wallace Stevens was a central figure in 20th Century poetry of the United States.
    works such as "The Man With The Blue Guitar" didn't just inspire other poets,
    they acted as a catalyst to other writers, artists and musicians,
    and this book, "The Palm at the End of the Mind"
    allows us to share this excitement;
    the tentacles reaching out from Wallace Stevens
    extend to figures such as Pablo Picasso,
    David Hockney and Nick Cave, of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
    John Gray, the philosopher said,
    " I am more proud of what I have read than of what I have written";
    and this book "The Palm at the End of the Mind"
    was John Gray's Book Choice on Desert Island Discs!
  • Zev
    2.0 out of 5 stars Terrible paper quality!
    Reviewed in India on July 14, 2021
    The quality of the paper is so bad, it just kills the whole act of reading! I think it's the publishers *eye rolls* The pages are dark and just suck the ligtt out of your eyes (not a hyperbole). Look for some other publisher.
  • Bertha Barlow
    5.0 out of 5 stars Better than All the Rest
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 25, 2018
    I liked the quality of the book from the paper used to the written content. The layout of poems on the page is good. There was a good selection of Poetry and Drama concluding with the wonderful poem, which is also the title of the collection, The Palm at the End of the Mind. If you want a good collection of Stephens’ poems this is the one to buy. The Faber collection is comprehensive, but the layout is cramped by comparison. I have nothing negative to say.
  • Gareth
    5.0 out of 5 stars Unexpected brilliance
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 26, 2013
    I took a literary theory course as part of my MA and the professor used some of Stevens' poems as examples of Structuralist poetry. They were, without exception, fantastic.