{
  "type": "book",
  "site": {
    "name": "Leafy Quotes",
    "language": "en",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com"
  },
  "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.",
  "title": "Opus Posthumous",
  "slug": "opus-posthumous",
  "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous",
  "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous.json",
  "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous.md",
  "author": {
    "name": "Wallace Stevens",
    "slug": "wallace-stevens",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens"
  },
  "cover": "https://quivercdn.com/covers/vintage/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous_978-06-7972-534-3.jpg",
  "quotes_count": 22,
  "quotes": [
    {
      "id": "f8b58b36-02ec-4f76-b1b8-c5a712ff0274",
      "slug": "to-see-the",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous/to-see-the",
      "text": "To see the gods dispelled in mid-air and dissolve like clouds is one of the great human experiences. It is not as if they had gone over the horizon to disappear for a time; nor as if they had been overcome by other gods of greater power and profounder knowledge. It is simply that they came to nothing.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "religion",
          "slug": "religion",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wallace_Stevens#Opus_Posthumous_(1957)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:11"
    },
    {
      "id": "f689f3ff-7225-4e76-836d-8fd032e0efca",
      "slug": "to-have-nothing",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous/to-have-nothing",
      "text": "To have nothing to say and to say it in a tragic manner is not the same thing as having something to say.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "humor",
          "slug": "humor",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor"
        },
        {
          "name": "writing",
          "slug": "writing",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wallace_Stevens#Adagia",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:11"
    },
    {
      "id": "f3aab78c-3b10-447d-8734-a81df04b9de9",
      "slug": "a-poem-should",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous/a-poem-should",
      "text": "A poem should be a part of one's sense of life.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "life",
          "slug": "life",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/life"
        },
        {
          "name": "poetry",
          "slug": "poetry",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/poetry"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wallace_Stevens#Adagia",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:11"
    },
    {
      "id": "e1356af3-8b6b-46cb-847c-fac1a081c4a9",
      "slug": "poetry-is-a-search",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous/poetry-is-a-search",
      "text": "Poetry is a search for the inexplicable.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "secrets",
          "slug": "secrets",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/secrets"
        },
        {
          "name": "poetry",
          "slug": "poetry",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/poetry"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wallace_Stevens#Adagia",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:11"
    },
    {
      "id": "d60abef6-2ac5-4435-b211-f9c398eaf89b",
      "slug": "let-wise-men",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous/let-wise-men",
      "text": "Let wise men piece the world together with wisdom\n\nOr poets with holy magic.\n\nHey-di-ho.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "wisdom",
          "slug": "wisdom",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/wisdom"
        },
        {
          "name": "poetry",
          "slug": "poetry",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/poetry"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wallace_Stevens#Opus_Posthumous_(1957)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:11"
    },
    {
      "id": "cf1057cb-b8fa-438d-8e58-ef49c5dd805b",
      "slug": "god-is-in",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous/god-is-in",
      "text": "God is in me or else is not at all (does not exist).",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "religion",
          "slug": "religion",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wallace_Stevens#Adagia",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:11"
    },
    {
      "id": "c262730e-5e85-40f7-8c15-0237d7d16bd8",
      "slug": "a-grandiose-subject",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous/a-grandiose-subject",
      "text": "A grandiose subject is not an assurance of a grandiose effect but, most likely, of the opposite.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "art",
          "slug": "art",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wallace_Stevens#Adagia",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:11"
    },
    {
      "id": "9ed628dc-9c6c-421f-958b-c7b2786c0020",
      "slug": "all-poetry-is-experimental",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous/all-poetry-is-experimental",
      "text": "All poetry is experimental poetry.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "poetry",
          "slug": "poetry",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/poetry"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wallace_Stevens#Adagia",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:11"
    },
    {
      "id": "9b437a0e-8813-45bf-bde0-32478599ed52",
      "slug": "the-imagination-is-one",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous/the-imagination-is-one",
      "text": "The imagination is one of the forces of nature.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "imagination",
          "slug": "imagination",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/imagination"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wallace_Stevens#Adagia",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:11"
    },
    {
      "id": "92786bfd-5788-47bf-8fae-b532ea23d05c",
      "slug": "style-is-not",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous/style-is-not",
      "text": "Style is not something applied. It is something that permeates. It is of the nature of that in which it is found, whether the poem, the manner of a god, the bearing of a man. It is not a dress.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "literary style",
          "slug": "literary-style",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/literary-style"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wallace_Stevens#Opus_Posthumous_(1957)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:11"
    },
    {
      "id": "863707d1-e67d-4cca-94e6-19be5e9460f2",
      "slug": "man-is-an-eternal",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous/man-is-an-eternal",
      "text": "Man is an eternal sophomore.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "humor",
          "slug": "humor",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor"
        },
        {
          "name": "human nature",
          "slug": "human-nature",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wallace_Stevens#Adagia",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:11"
    },
    {
      "id": "840a38db-2613-43d9-9b8c-746bceacddda",
      "slug": "in-the-world",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous/in-the-world",
      "text": "In the world of words, the imagination is one of the forces of nature.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "language",
          "slug": "language",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/language"
        },
        {
          "name": "imagination",
          "slug": "imagination",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/imagination"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wallace_Stevens#Adagia",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:11"
    },
    {
      "id": "8219e7b3-3988-46c3-9d71-cd98e978f5c4",
      "slug": "the-poet-is-the",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous/the-poet-is-the",
      "text": "The poet is the priest of the invisible.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "poetry",
          "slug": "poetry",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/poetry"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wallace_Stevens#Adagia",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:11"
    },
    {
      "id": "6997fde5-d924-4525-8cbd-717224182bee",
      "slug": "after-one-has",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous/after-one-has",
      "text": "After one has abandoned a belief in God, poetry is that essence which takes its place as life’s redemption.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "religion",
          "slug": "religion",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion"
        },
        {
          "name": "poetry",
          "slug": "poetry",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/poetry"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wallace_Stevens#Opus_Posthumous_(1957)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:11"
    },
    {
      "id": "63ebc637-9276-4e5c-841c-7de19209ffde",
      "slug": "the-poet-makes",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous/the-poet-makes",
      "text": "The poet makes silk dresses out of worms.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "poetry",
          "slug": "poetry",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/poetry"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wallace_Stevens#Adagia",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:11"
    },
    {
      "id": "5289ca2b-7263-4a5c-a3f7-fd8bd80133ca",
      "slug": "poetry-is-a-purging",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous/poetry-is-a-purging",
      "text": "Poetry is a purging of the world's poverty and change and evil and death. It is a present perfecting, a satisfaction in the irremediable poverty of life.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "poetry",
          "slug": "poetry",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/poetry"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wallace_Stevens#Adagia",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:11"
    },
    {
      "id": "50bcbb0d-1329-46c8-bbe2-0cc767c91a1e",
      "slug": "the-poet-is-a-god",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous/the-poet-is-a-god",
      "text": "The poet is a god, or, the young poet is a god. The old poet is a tramp.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "humor",
          "slug": "humor",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor"
        },
        {
          "name": "old age",
          "slug": "old-age",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/old-age"
        },
        {
          "name": "poetry",
          "slug": "poetry",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/poetry"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wallace_Stevens#Adagia",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:11"
    },
    {
      "id": "46cf4bb3-6cfc-4849-a2aa-e36ae96a5126",
      "slug": "sentimentality-is-a-failure",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous/sentimentality-is-a-failure",
      "text": "Sentimentality is a failure of feeling.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "emotions",
          "slug": "emotions",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/emotions"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wallace_Stevens#Adagia",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:11"
    },
    {
      "id": "43b0368e-4980-497e-a822-71becf17347f",
      "slug": "a-poet-looks",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous/a-poet-looks",
      "text": "A poet looks at the world as a man looks at a woman.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "poetry",
          "slug": "poetry",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/poetry"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wallace_Stevens#Adagia",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:11"
    },
    {
      "id": "20ac2561-c6e8-4edf-a1ef-1fa14056635c",
      "slug": "all-history-is-modern",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous/all-history-is-modern",
      "text": "All history is modern history.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "history",
          "slug": "history",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wallace_Stevens#Adagia",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:11"
    },
    {
      "id": "124baaa4-4f3e-40b8-9e0a-422178ebe4a9",
      "slug": "to-a-large",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous/to-a-large",
      "text": "To a large extent, the problems of poets are the problems of painters, and poets must often turn to the literature of painting for a discussion of their own problems.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "art",
          "slug": "art",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art"
        },
        {
          "name": "poetry",
          "slug": "poetry",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/poetry"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wallace_Stevens#Adagia",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:11"
    },
    {
      "id": "07cfb343-ba3c-457f-a475-665aff02f5e7",
      "slug": "the-world-is-a-force",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous/the-world-is-a-force",
      "text": "The world is a force, not a presence.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "reality",
          "slug": "reality",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reality"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wallace_Stevens#Adagia",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:11"
    }
  ]
}