In the poem "Anecdote of a Jar" by Wallace Stevens, we see how the poet uses confusion to portray the connection between the human world and the natural world. The jar that the reader is introduced with is a symbolic representation of man, being that jars are a man made object. Stevens uses this jar to dissect how man and wild interact and which is the dominant figure in our society.
Stevens shows this dominance issue immediately at the beginning of the poem when he says, "It made the slovenly wilderness, Surround that hill." He intentionally speaks of the wilderness in depth before he touches on the jar. Stevens is trying to show the reader the extreme power of nature. Humans can not control tornados, hurricanes or floods; nature always has the upper hand. Since humans have no way to stop nature and its wrath, then we can see at this point of the poem that Stevens sees nature as the dominant figure. .
In the second stanza, Stevens goes on to state, "The wilderness rose up to it, And sprawled around no longer wild." This is a dramatic shift in which idea is dominant. The wilderness is growing up the hill and getting closer and closer to the jar. However, it can grow no more because this jar is blocking its path. The human race has created these new structures such as roads, buildings, and fences that nature can not grow through or around. The jar is too "round" and "tall" for nature to overcome. In this light, we see how humans now have the upper hand on nature. They can kill it wherever they see fit; nature is rendered helpless. .
In the final stanza, Stevens once again throws us for a bit of a loop. He begins by stating "It (nature) took dominion everywhere. The jar was gray and bare". We have again proposed the idea that nature is overpowering to everything, even humans. The jar is just a jar, gray and bare possessing no special powers. But nature has endless powers, powers that may have not yet been witnessed.
Knowledge "Anecdote of the Jar" by Wallace Stevens represents a struggle with knowledge. ... Wallace Steven's poem says, "The wilderness rose up to it, And sprawled around, no longer wild." ... "The jar was gray and bare." ... Once the wild was tamed, the jar was empty. ... Wallace Stevens was trying to express that we should take every opportunity to better ourselves. ...
