Parallel enclosures: a frame narrative approach to reading "The Snow Man" by Wallace Stevens.

Justin Quinn (2002) thinks as a non-American about Wallace Stevens' space of nature, whether or not and how others following are influenced by his works, and "how we might think about how communities imaging themselves, whether against the space of nature, or as Rob Wilson contends, against a stranger postmodern sublime (cited by Quinn as 206)."

Quinn tells us (Page 4) that he will read Wallace Stevens poems from a perspective; "Stevens thinks about politics and ideology through the space of nature." Quinn reads "The Auroras of Autumn" to "characterize critical talk of Stevens and fictions" stressing the communal nature of enclosures humanity constructs around itself and occasional abandonment "so new constructs may take their place." My mind races to the thought that the space of nature is the frame from which stories could emerge, certain that other critics are exploring the same.

Perhaps Stevens' own construct of enclosure is the Lucretian Sublime from which to view the world, and can the enclosure be applied to understand how Stevens stripped his snow man of all illusions?

What I am trying to say is if I think of the figurative snow man in "The Snow Man" (The Library of America 1997) as a self-imposed construct of enclosure from which is or seems to be the viewpoint of the discussion which ensues, will that change how I think about Stevens' methods and his stripping of all illusions as a provinence of Titus Lucretius Carus' thinking?

If "The Emperor of Ice Cream" (The Library of America 1997) framework creates an enclosure where "it simply is" is the end node to what seems to be, "be be finale to seem", then it follows that the only emperor is the "Emperor of Ice Cream" might serve as both front and back enclosure of the conversation in the middle part. It then also seems to be that the snow man enclosure in "The Snow Man" might serve as a frame for the conversation.

Not totally confused yet using the concept of frame narratives or stories within a frame, the title serves as the front matter with all its meaning "The Snow Man" might conjure from a reader's contextual imagination. The middle matter or conversation happens with a mind of winter; aged over time; unable to imagine misery as an attribute of sounds. Yet sounds are there "For the listener, who listens in the snow, And, nothing himself, beholds Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is." And, the listener, the Snow Man, closes the conversation frame listening to what is nothing that is [which] is free of illusions, stripped bare just as Lucretius might imagine.

Using the frame narrative method of reading "The Snow Man" and "The Emperor of Ice Cream" creates a new enclosure or construct to think about space and nature as the framework for speaking on behalf of the Lucretian Sublime. This would then parallel Quinn's position of reading Stevens' poems from the perspective of politics and ideology.

Citation:  Quinn, Justin. Gathered Beneath the Storm. Wallace Stevens, Nature and Community. University College Dublin Press. 2002 Print. Introduction Pages 1-5.

Citation: The Library of America. Stevens. Collected Poetry & Prose. Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., New York, N.Y. 1997. Print. Pages 8 and 50.