Spatialized Mental Catharsis: The Modern Poem as Intellectual Theatre in Wallace Stevens? ?Of Modern Poetry?

This paper argues that ?Of Modern Poetry? is a poem concerned with intellectual and aesthetic space, reflecting Wallace Stevens? preoccupation with virtual or hyperreal forms of mental negotiations within a new conception of the poem as a theatre, which belongs to Stevens? obsession with theorizing about poetry, along with his exploration of the realms of poetic imagination. Stevens perceives the poem as a theatre or a stage where the poet and his readers/audience co-perform an intellectual act while seeking mental catharsis. Hence, the study underscores Stevens? idea that intellectual space is the criteria for writing and reading modern poetry as illustrated in ?Of Modern Poetry?. This reading adopts major notions in spatial theory as represented by Frank, Soja, Bachelard, Foucault and others.