n. In the sixth stanza, the narrator asks Ramon Fernandez why people look toward the town “when the singing ended” (45). The town is signified by “the lights in the fishing boats at anchor there” (47). These lights are needed to replace the “idea of order” that the woman’s song offers. Instead of words interpreting the surroundings, the audience turn to a location that mankind has actually physically altered. The physical creation of reality instilled by the lights provided a more permanent “idea of order” for they have “mastered the night and portioned out the sea” (49), successfully “arranging, deepening, enchanting night” (51). The final stanza restates man’s inability to fully capture “physical yet intuitive” moments. “The maker’s rage to order words of the sea” (53) comes to no avail because it attempts to verbalize, “in ghostlier demarcations, keener sounds” (56). In conclusion, Wallace Steven’s “The Idea of Order at Key West” reaffirms Jorie Graham’s belief the “poetry can be difficult…[because it] describes, enacts and is compelled by those moments…that are physical yet intuitive.” This difficulty is experienced by both the woman singing and Stevens as they both try to capture an intuitive experience with physical words.The difficulty of poetry is pushed to the limit in Jorie Graham’s poem, “Noli Me Tangere”. Graham boldly attempts to verbalize the completely abstract act of a spirit ascending to heaven. The poem opens with ...
