Ideas are Ideas are Ideas (Cassie)

I'm not going to pretend that this is a new argument- I'll even go so far as to quote Gertrude Stein's words on the same subject: "A Writer must always try to have a philosophy and he should also have a psychology and a philology and many other things. Without a philosophy and a psychology and all these various other things he is not really worthy of being called a writer. I agree with Kant and Schopenhauer and Plato and Spinoza and that is quite enough to be called a philosophy. But then of course philosophy is not the same thing as a style."

Philosophy is not the same as a style. A philosopher is not a separate characteristic of a person, one can be a philosopher and a poet the same as someone can be a teacher and a mother. A teacher isn't always a mother but a mother is always a teacher. A mother might not directly say that she is a teacher just as a poet may not directly say that his or her poems are stemming from a philosophy. I do, however, think that when a poet seems to stick to a new style- a form that meddles with the minds of the readers (Stein), or when the poet stays on ONE TOPIC WAY TOO LONG (Stevens) then looking at this poet and discussing the poet amongst friends to figure out what can be gained by the poet's philosophy is the only worthy next step. Reading Stevens had a soothing effect on the reader; I easily got lost in the beautiful imagery or dismal feelings when I lost sight of his meanings or intentions. However, with Stein I find myself aggravated. (Yes I find myself instead lose myself in her work). At least I'm experiencing her- right? If you haven't read Gertrude Stein and don't understand what I mean by difficult style, here is a taste, a short poem from her Tender Buttons: Objects:

"A Cloth"

Enough cloth is plenty and more, more is almost enough for that and besides if there is no more spreading is there plenty of room for it. Any occasion shows the best way.

Enjoy some of Gertrude Stein's philosophy- I mean poetry.