A Rabbit As King Of The Ghosts - A poem by Wallace Stevens

Wallace Stevens - A Rabbit As King Of The Ghosts

The difficulty to think at the end of day,
When the shapeless shadow covers the sun
And nothing is left except light on your fur—

There was the cat slopping its milk all day,
Fat cat, red tongue, green mind, white milk
And August the most peaceful month.

To be, in the grass, in the peacefullest time,
Without that monument of cat, 
The cat forgotten on the moon;

And to feel that the light is a rabbit-light
In which everything is meant for you
And nothing need be explained;

Then there is nothing to think of. It comes of it-
self;
And east rushes west and west rushes down,
No matter. The grass is full

And full of yourself. The trees around are for you,
The whole of the wideness of night is for you,
A self that touches all edges,

You become a self that fills the four corners of 
 night.
The red cat hides away in the fur-light
And there you are humped high, humped up,

You are humped higher and higher, black as 
  stone—
You sit with your head like a carving in space
And the little green cat is a bug in the grass.

Added: on May 14th, 2007 at 8:13 AM | Viewed: 3897 times | Comments and analysis of A Rabbit As King Of The Ghosts by Wallace Stevens Comments (6)

A Rabbit As King Of The Ghosts - Comments and Information
Poet: Wallace Stevens Poem: A Rabbit As King Of The Ghosts Poem of the Day: May 21 2005 Comment 6 of 6, added on December 4th, 2007 at 8:33 PM. Very nice imagery,but either Stevens didn't own a cat, or didn't pay much attention to it. The night is prime hunting time. I live on an old farm in the woods with a 16 year old cat that can still take down rabbits, squirrels, and mice and moles by the hundreds, and she often does it at night. look at a cat's eyes sometime in the evening, their pupils are gigantic- Great for night vision. If Stevens was trying to pass along a pastoral image of safety shrouded in the coming dark, he needs to take a closer look at the cats eyes. mark larson Comment 5 of 6, added on May 17th, 2007 at 6:30 PM. to "fill the four corners of night" is the blissful state of feeling in harmony with the world. stevens worked as an insurance agent during the day-- in the night, he felt his poetic self come alive. the "rabbit" is of course a weird image for the poetic self-- but the poetic self is an eccentric self. the shifts in size that the rabbit and the cat go suggest a power struggle between them-- the poet is trying to whittle away the presence of the cat, because the cat stands in the way of the ability of the rabbit to feel fully inspired. The cat, in my view, stands for the unhappy domestic life that stevens lived (his wife was somewhat insane, totally against his poetic enterprises, and they were unhappily married). By reducing the cat, in the end, to a little bug, the poem ends optimistically. But night doesn't last forever-- it is a cyclical struggle that the poet will have to go through. p from United States Comment 4 of 6, added on May 14th, 2007 at 8:13 AM. I have to Recite this poem for a project Catherine from United States More Comments >> Are you looking for more information on this poem? Perhaps you are trying to analyze it? The poem, A Rabbit As King Of The Ghosts, has received 6 comments. Click here to read them, and perhaps post a comment of your own. Of course you can also always discuss poems by Wallace Stevens with others on the American Poems poetry forum!

Poem Info
Poet: Wallace Stevens Poem: A Rabbit As King Of The Ghosts Last read: Jul 25 2008, 7:34AM Poem of the Day: May 21 2005 Viewed 3897 times. Added on May 14th, 2007 at 8:13 AM.

Stevens Info
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