His sense for abstract sound pervades much of his poetry. Although Stevens concern for modern epistemological problems pervades much of his poetry, the riches of his images and sounds are so outwardly lucid, they give great pleasure without the necessity of rigorous philosophical understanding. Childlike in its simplicity, the sensations within each stanza seem to recall the complexity of a Japanese Haiku. But I know, too, That the blackbird is involved In what I know. For Stevens, the transience of mankind is all important.
Men too are ephemeral and when they die their bodies sink back into earth s clay.
Stevens' embrace of nature, his need to re-create, and his playful vocables provide the catalyst for other poets, like Theodore Roethke, who apprentice themselves to Stevens' mastercraftmanship of sculpted verse. Although Roethke also finds guidance from other poets, such as William Butler Yeats, his poems never separate man from nature. Like Stevens, Roethke's poetry is firmly rooted in the realm of the experience, and also like Stevens the craft of his poesy is as sensual as the world that surrounds him. For Roethke, recreation involves a journey back to the beginning of self. Only by seeing through the innocent eyes of the child can the persona move towards his final emergence into light.