that ‘‘Stevens’s poetry, both in theory and in
actual practice, is a poetry of evanescence—brief
glimpses of something that vanishes before it can
be seen, caught, named, tamed, pinned down.’’ In
this sense, Miller reveals how Stevens’s poetry
reflects the modernism by which the poet himself
was shaped.
World War II
The world experienced a decade of aggression in
the 1930s that culminated in World War II. This
global conflict was caused by the rise and aggres-
sion of totalitarian regimes in Germany, Italy,
and Japan. These militaristic regimes gained
control, in part, as a result of the Great Depres-
sion that affected most of the world in the early
1930s and, in reference to Germany, from the
strict conditions defined by the terms of the
Treaty of Versailles (1919) following World
War I. The dictatorships established in each of
these three countries envisioned military take-
overs of neighboring countries. In Germany,
Hitler strengthened the army during the 1930s.
In 1936, Benito Mussolini’s Italian troops took
Ethiopia. From 1936 to 1939, Spain was engaged
in civil war involving Francisco Franco’s fascist
army, aided by Germany and Italy. In March
1938, Germany annexed Austria, and in March
1939, it occupied Czechoslovakia. Italy took
Albania in April 1939. One week after Nazi
Germany and the USSR signed a Treaty of
Nonaggression, on September 1, 1939, Germany
invaded Poland and World War II began. On
September 3, 1939, Great Britain and France
declared war on Germany after a German U-
boat sank the British shipAtheniaoff the coast
of Ireland. Another British ship, Courageous,
was sunk on September 19. All the members of
the British Commonwealth, except Ireland, soon
joined Britain and France in their declaration of
war. The United States entered the war four days
after Japan attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl
Harbor on December 7, 1941.Critical Overview.
After the publication of several volumes of
poetry, Stevens had established a reputation as
one of the finest American poets, and that assess-
ment continued into the early 2000s. The grow-
ing regard for his poetry was due in large part to
major critical direction from scholars such as
Helen Vendler and Harold Bloom. Bloom
wrote in his bookGenius: A Mosaic of One Hun-
dred Exemplary Creative Mindsthat ‘‘Stevens is,
after Whitman, Dickinson, and Henry James,
the greatest master of nuance in the American
language’’ and that ‘‘gradually he came to be
seen as the poet of his era, displacing Eliot,
Pound, and William Carlos Williams.’’COMPARE
&
CONTRAST 1930s and 1940s:A decade of military aggres-
sion in the 1930s culminates in World War II.
This global conflict results from the rise of
totalitarian regimes in Germany, Italy, and
Japan. One week after Nazi Germany and the
USSR sign the Treaty of Nonaggression, on
September 1, 1939, Germany invades Poland,
and World War II begins when Great Britain
and France declare war on Germany.
Today:The United States is engaged in wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan. Terrorist activitiesin various parts of the Middle East indicate
considerable instability in the area.
1930s and 1940s:Modernist American writ-
ers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemi-
ngway, and Wallace Stevens focus on the
subjective nature of experience.
Today:Contemporary American writers con-
sider how humans perceive reality. Writers
present various theories, influenced by ethnic-
ity, gender, and class.Of Modern Poetry