The shaping spirit

My purpose in publishing this examination will be served if it makes Stevens' poetry understandable in a fuller and more coherent way for those among his readers who have not had occasion to examine it in its entirety, or having read it entire wish to compare their understanding of it with that of another reader. My primary intention has been neither to eulogize nor place him neatly among his peers but, in his own words, "plainly to propound."--A prefatory note.