"Anecdote of the Jar" was written by Wallace Stevens, an important figure in 20th-century American poetry. In the poem, an unnamed speaker places a jar on a hill in Tennessee. As the natural world continues to grow around the jar, the speaker declares that the object becomes a kind of king of the landscape, forcing the surrounding wilderness to rise to meet it. An ambiguous and enigmatic poem, "Anecdote of the Jar" has been subject to a wide range of interpretations in the decades since its publication. As with much of Stevens's work, it might be symbolic of any number of things—from the perils of modern industrialization to the nature of creativity and perspective. And, of course, the poem can also be taken at face value—as simply being about a jar on a hill. "Anecdote of the Jar" was published in Stevens's first book, Harmonium, in 1923.
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The Full Text of “Anecdote of the Jar”
1I placed a jar in Tennessee,
2And round it was, upon a hill.
3It made the slovenly wilderness
4Surround that hill.
5The wilderness rose up to it,
6And sprawled around, no longer wild.
7The jar was round upon the ground
8And tall and of a port in air.
9It took dominion everywhere.
10The jar was gray and bare.
11It did not give of bird or bush,
12Like nothing else in Tennessee.
The Full Text of “Anecdote of the Jar”
1I placed a jar in Tennessee,
2And round it was, upon a hill.
3It made the slovenly wilderness
4Surround that hill.
5The wilderness rose up to it,
6And sprawled around, no longer wild.
7The jar was round upon the ground
8And tall and of a port in air.
9It took dominion everywhere.
10The jar was gray and bare.
11It did not give of bird or bush,
12Like nothing else in Tennessee.
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“Anecdote of the Jar” Summary
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“Anecdote of the Jar” Themes
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Humanity vs. Nature
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Perspective and Meaning
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Anecdote of the Jar”
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Lines 1-2
I placed a jar in Tennessee,
And round it was, upon a hill. -
Lines 3-4
It made the slovenly wilderness
Surround that hill. -
Lines 5-6
The wilderness rose up to it,
And sprawled around, no longer wild. -
Lines 7-8
The jar was round upon the ground
And tall and of a port in air. -
Lines 9-10
It took dominion everywhere.
The jar was gray and bare. -
Lines 11-12
It did not give of bird or bush,
Like nothing else in Tennessee.
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“Anecdote of the Jar” Symbols
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The Jar
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Nature
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“Anecdote of the Jar” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Alliteration
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Assonance
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Caesura
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Consonance
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End-Stopped Line
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Enjambment
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Personification
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Polysyndeton
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Repetition
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“Anecdote of the Jar” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Slovenly
- Wilderness
- Sprawled
- Of a port
- Dominion
- Give of
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Anecdote of the Jar”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Anecdote of the Jar” Speaker
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“Anecdote of the Jar” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Anecdote of the Jar”
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More “Anecdote of the Jar” Resources
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External Resources
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The Poet's Life and Work — A bountiful resource from the Poetry Foundation, including podcasts, essays, and more of Stevens's poems.
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Critical Perspectives on the Poem — A selection of analyses, demonstrating the wide range of interpretations available to this ambiguous poem.
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Harmonium in Full — Check out the 1923 poetry collection in which "Anecdote of the Jar" appears.
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"The Thrilling Mind of Wallace Stevens" — An interesting New Yorker article about Stevens's life and work.
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Harold Bloom on Stevens — Audio of a fascinating lecture on Stevens by Harold Bloom, one of the most influential literary critics of the 20th century.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Wallace Stevens
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