Metre and word usage in Anecdote of the Jar

After analyzing the poem rhythmically, I discovered that this poem was written in the form of iambic structure. At first, some lines did not appear to be iambic but after reading through the poem many times, I came to the conclusion that this is the way Stevens intende

These rhymes are important because they lyrically join the second and third stanza. As well, this use of similar sounding words emphasizes the word air. Air is important because without it we would not have life on earth, and if this planet was lifeless we would not have this poem. Therefore air may be considered more powerful than art and the imagination. Also worth mentioning is that the word wilderness also has an ‘air’ rhyming sound (if pronounced wildairness).

The next element of form to be examined is Steven's use of rhyme. He states that, "The jar was round upon the ground." This rhyming of the words round and ground is very reminiscent of lyrical poetry which is often characterized as musical and playful. The word round is used five times in the poem. It comes in the form of surround, around, ground, and round (twice). ‘Round’ and ‘ground’ in verse seven are an example of internal rhyme. The word ‘round is used often because the jar is round, and because of this the wilderness moves to surround it“

In this 12 verse poem, 9 verses have 8 syllables while 3 verses do not follow this pattern. The third line of the poem is one initial syllable more than the normative causing a break in pattern. This is the case if slovenly is pronounced slov-en-ly but the poem flows better if it is pronounced sloven-ly. My question is: why didn’t Stevens use the word unclean, it would have fit better in the poem. Perhaps that word is not as descriptive. The fourth line only has four syllables, breaking the norm again, this forces the reader to take some time to pause to reflect on the poem and predict where it is going to go. Even though there is this lack of syllables the flow of the poem is not affected. The tenth line of the poem goes against the norm by only containing 6 syllables. This is justified because the last word used is bare. Bare can mean something is missing and in this case two syllables are missing.

Some topics in this essay:
Anecdote Jar, third stanza, line stanza, line third stanza, line third, fourth line, Wallace Stevens’, third line, line poem, rhyme scheme, words letter, tennessee words, rhyme scheme pattern, lines stanzas,