DDCPoetry

Original poem reprinted online here: "The Paltry Nude Starts on a Spring Voyage" by Wallace Stevens Originally read: May 5, 2013 More information about the Poet: Wallace Stevens I knew this was an eckphrastic poem from the title and the first line.    The words that lead me to this knowledge was "nude" in the title and "shell" in the first line.  But what if this wasn't an eckphrastic piece?  Well, I might be too saturated with Wallace Stevens, Botticelli, Poetry, allusions or all of the above.  In some ways, at least for me, it's impossible to separate the poem and the allusion to the painting. However, the speaker tries to separate his words from meaning or interpretation of the painting.  "The Birth of Venus" is a pretty acclaimed piece of art, but the first lines of the poem seem a bit jarring, "But not a shell, she starts / Archaic, for the sea."  Archaic.  Obsolete.  Not so much the reverence appearing in the painting or f...