Stevensian

..article by Helen Vendler

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/books/review/Vendler-t.html?_r=1

"Stevens said many beautiful and significant things about poetry in his prose. In his remarks, at 72, on receiving the Gold Medal from the Poetry Society of America, he spoke of the spirit of poetry as a companion of the conscience, and the poem as a faithful act of conscience: “Individual poets, whatever their imperfections may be, are driven all their lives by that inner companion of the conscience which is, after all, the genius of poetry in their hearts and minds. I speak of a companion of the conscience because to every faithful poet, the faithful poem is an act of conscience.”