"The Idea of Order at Key West" is one of modernist poet Wallace Stevens's most celebrated works. Written in 1934 and published in his 1936 collection Ideas of Order, the blank verse poem explores the power of art and imagination as well as humanity's relationship with the natural world. The speaker describes the captivating song of a woman walking along a beach in Key West, Florida. Her singing is so impressive that, according to the speaker, it upstages the beautiful natural scene behind her. In her solitary artistry, in fact, she seems to be the god-like maker "of the world / In which she sang." And when her song ends, the surrounding scene strikes the speaker as both more coherently "Arrang[ed]" and more "enchanting." The poem reflects on artists' "rage to order" the chaotic world around them—and suggests that art can make profound sense of its audience's world as well.

• Read the full text of “The Idea of Order at Key West”

• “The Idea of Order at Key West” Summary

• “The Idea of Order at Key West” Themes

  • 

    Art and Order vs. Reality and Chaos

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-56
  • 

    Humanity, Nature, and Imagination

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-56
  • 

    Solitude and Emotional Connection

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 18-20
    • Lines 34-43
    • Lines 44-56

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Idea of Order at Key West”

  • Lines 1-4

    She sang beyond ...
    ... Its empty sleeves;

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 4-7

    and yet its ...
    ... the veritable ocean.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 8-11

    The sea was ...
    ... word by word.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 12-17

    It may be ...
    ... walked to sing.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 18-20

    Whose spirit is ...
    ... as she sang.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 21-28

    If it was ...
    ... And sound alone.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 28-33

    But it was ...
    ... sky and sea.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 34-38

          ...
    ... which she sang.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 38-43

    And when she ...
    ... and, singing, made.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 44-46

    Ramon Fernandez, tell ...
    ... Toward the town,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 46-51

    tell why the ...
    ... deepening, enchanting night.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 52-56

    Oh! Blessed rage ...
    ... demarcations, keener sounds.

    

    

    

    

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• “The Idea of Order at Key West” Symbols

  • 

    The Sea

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-14: “She sang beyond the genius of the sea. / The water never formed to mind or voice, / Like a body wholly body, fluttering / Its empty sleeves; and yet its mimic motion / Made constant cry, caused constantly a cry, / That was not ours although we understood, / Inhuman, of the veritable ocean. / The sea was not a mask. No more was she. / The song and water were not medleyed sound / Even if what she sang was what she heard, / Since what she sang was uttered word by word. / It may be that in all her phrases stirred / The grinding water and the gasping wind; / But it was she and not the sea we heard.”
    • Lines 16-18: “The ever-hooded, tragic-gestured sea / Was merely a place by which she walked to sing. / Whose spirit is this? we said,”
    • Lines 21-22: “If it was only the dark voice of the sea / That rose, or even colored by many waves;”
    • Line 24: “of the sunken coral water-walled,”
    • Line 30: “The meaningless plungings of water and the wind,”
    • Lines 32-33: “mountainous atmospheres / Of sky and sea.”
    • Lines 38-40: “And when she sang, the sea, / Whatever self it had, became the self / That was her song, for she was the maker.”
    • Line 49: “Mastered the night and portioned out the sea,”
    • Line 53: “The maker’s rage to order words of the sea,”
  • 

    The Lights

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 46-51: “tell why the glassy lights, / The lights in the fishing boats at anchor there, / As the night descended, tilting in the air, / Mastered the night and portioned out the sea, / Fixing emblazoned zones and fiery poles, / Arranging, deepening, enchanting night.”

• “The Idea of Order at Key West” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “sang,” “sea”
    • Line 4: “mimic motion”
    • Line 5: “Made,” “constant cry,” “caused constantly,” “cry”
    • Line 8: “not,” “mask,” “No,” “more”
    • Line 9: “song,” “water were,” “medleyed,” “sound”
    • Line 10: “what,” “sang,” “was what”
    • Line 11: “Since,” “what,” “sang,” “was,” “word,” “word”
    • Line 13: “grinding,” “water,” “gasping,” “wind”
    • Line 14: “w”
    • Line 15: “song,” “sang”
    • Line 17: “Was,” “which,” “walked”
    • Line 18: “spirit,” “said”
    • Line 19: “spirit,” “sought”
    • Line 24: “cloud,” “coral,” “water-walled”
    • Line 25: “clear”
    • Line 26: “summer sound”
    • Line 27: “summer”
    • Line 28: “sound”
    • Line 30: “water,” “wind”
    • Line 32: “high horizons”
    • Line 33: “sky,” “sea”
    • Line 34: “voice”
    • Line 35: “vanishing”
    • Line 36: “solitude”
    • Line 37: “single”
    • Line 38: “which,” “sang,” “when,” “sang,” “sea”
    • Line 39: “Whatever,” “self,” “self”
    • Line 40: “was,” “song,” “was,” “we”
    • Line 42: “Knew,” “never,” “was,” “world”
    • Line 43: “one,” “sang,” “singing”
    • Line 45: “Why,” “when,” “we,” “turned”
    • Line 46: “Toward,” “town,” “tell”
    • Line 50: “Fixing,” “fiery”
    • Line 52: “rage,” “Ramon”
    • Line 53: “rage”

  • Imagery

    

    

    

    

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    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Lines 4-5: “and yet its mimic motion / Made constant cry, caused constantly a cry,”
    • Lines 9-14: “The song and water were not medleyed sound / Even if what she sang was what she heard, / Since what she sang was uttered word by word. / It may be that in all her phrases stirred / The grinding water and the gasping wind; / But it was she and not the sea we heard.”
    • Line 16: “The ever-hooded, tragic-gestured sea”
    • Lines 21-28: “If it was only the dark voice of the sea / That rose, or even colored by many waves; / If it was only the outer voice of sky / And cloud, of the sunken coral water-walled, / However clear, it would have been deep air, / The heaving speech of air, a summer sound / Repeated in a summer without end / And sound alone.”
    • Lines 34-35: “It was her voice that made / The sky acutest at its vanishing.”
    • Line 41: “As we beheld her striding there alone,”
    • Lines 45-51: “Why, when the singing ended and we turned / Toward the town, tell why the glassy lights, / The lights in the fishing boats at anchor there, / As the night descended, tilting in the air, / Mastered the night and portioned out the sea, / Fixing emblazoned zones and fiery poles, / Arranging, deepening, enchanting night.”
    • Line 54: “Words of the fragrant portals, dimly-starred,”

  • Juxtaposition

    

    

    

    

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    Where juxtaposition appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-56

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “She,” “sang,” “sea”
    • Line 2: “water,” “voice”
    • Line 3: “body,” “body”
    • Line 5: “Made,” “constant cry,” “constantly,” “cry”
    • Line 8: “The,” “sea,” “she”
    • Line 9: “The,” “song,” “water,” “sound”
    • Line 10: “what she sang,” “what she,” “heard”
    • Line 11: “what she sang”
    • Line 13: “The,” “water,” “the,” “wind”
    • Line 14: “she,” “sea,” “heard”
    • Line 15: “she,” “the maker,” “song,” “she,” “sang”
    • Line 16: “sea”
    • Line 17: “she”
    • Line 18: “spirit,” “knew”
    • Line 19: “spirit,” “knew”
    • Line 20: “she,” “sang”
    • Line 21: “voice of,” “sea”
    • Line 23: “ voice of,” “sky”
    • Line 25: “air”
    • Line 26: “air,” “summer,” “sound”
    • Line 27: “summer”
    • Line 28: “sound,” “more”
    • Line 29: “More,” “voice”
    • Line 30: “water,” “wind”
    • Line 33: “sky,” “sea”
    • Line 34: “voice”
    • Line 36: “She”
    • Line 37: “She,” “world”
    • Line 38: “she sang,” “she sang,” “sea”
    • Line 39: “self,” “self”
    • Line 40: “song,” “the maker”
    • Line 42: “world”
    • Line 43: “she sang,” “singing”
    • Line 44: “Ramon,” “tell”
    • Line 45: “singing”
    • Line 46: “tell,” “lights”
    • Line 47: “lights”
    • Line 48: “night”
    • Line 49: “night,” “sea”
    • Line 51: “night”
    • Line 52: “rage,” “order,” “Ramon”
    • Line 53: “The maker’s,” “rage,” “order,” “words of the,” “sea”
    • Line 54: “Words of the”
    • Line 55: “And of,” “and of”

  • Personification

    

    

    

    

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    Where personification appears in the poem:

    • Line 26: “The heaving speech of air,”
    • Lines 47-51: “The lights in the fishing boats at anchor there, / As the night descended, tilting in the air, / Mastered the night and portioned out the sea, / Fixing emblazoned zones and fiery poles, / Arranging, deepening, enchanting night.”

• “The Idea of Order at Key West” 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.

  • Genius
  • Formed to
  • Mimic
  • Inhuman
  • Veritable
  • Mask
  • Medleyed
  • Phrases
  • Maker
  • Tragic-gestured
  • Ever-hooded
  • Spirit
  • Water-walled
  • Plungings
  • Theatrical
  • Vanishing
  • Acutest
  • Artificer
  • Ramon Fernandez
  • Glassy
  • Mastered
  • Portioned out
  • Fixing
  • Emblazoned zones
  • Fiery poles
  • Blessed
  • Order
  • Fragrant portals
  • Dimly-starred
  • Demarcations
  • Ghostlier
  • Keener
  • (Location in poem: Line 1: “She sang beyond the genius of the sea.”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Idea of Order at Key West”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “The Idea of Order at Key West” Speaker

• “The Idea of Order at Key West” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “The Idea of Order at Key West”

• More “The Idea of Order at Key West” Resources

  • External Resources

    • The Poem Aloud — Listen to Wallace Stevens read "The Idea of Order at Key West."

    • The Poet's Life — Read a biography of Wallace Stevens at Poets.org.

    • Modernism 101 — A brief introduction to the movement with which Wallace Stevens is closely associated.

    • Another Reading of the Poem — A video for the Favorite Poem Project that includes a tribute to and reading of the poem.

    • Stevens in Key West — An account of Stevens's vacations to Key West, Florida, including his quarrel with another poet-vacationer, Robert Frost.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Wallace Stevens

    • Anecdote of the Jar

    • Disillusionment of Ten O'Clock

    • Sunday Morning

    • The Emperor of Ice-Cream

    • The Snow Man

    • Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

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