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INSCRIPTION FOR A MONUMENT by WALLACE STEVENS

Poem Explanation Poet Analysis

First Line: TO THE IMAGINED LIVES
Last Line: STUTTERING DREAMS ...

To the imagined lives
Evoked by music,
Creatures of horns, flutes, drums,
Violins, basoons, cymbals --
Nude porters that glistened in Burma
Defiling from sight;
Island philosophers spent
By long thought beside fountains;
Big-bellied ogres curled up in the sunlight,
Stuttering dreams ...



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