Norfolk

Norfolk is addressed in the title of Wallace Stevens' poem "Two in Norfolk." We can assume that the Norfolk to which the poet refers is in Conneticut. The poem was published as an added poem to the Harmonium collection that appeared in a later edition in 1931. The poem depicts two African Americans who are mowing the grass in a cemetery. They appear almost to be observers, according to critic Corey M. Taylor [1], yet the poem itself really becomes a reflection on death, the darkness beneath the earth, and the rich fertility of the cemetery that produces life through the flowering plants. Taylor does address Stevens' "use of offensive language to discuss race" [1], and the use of the word "darkies" (1) [2] early in the poem illustrates to Taylor that while the poet embraces "jazz-influenced language," he also "venerates jazz, then denigrates its creators" within his poems (116). [1]
==Notes==
1. Taylor 116.
2. Stevens in Kermode and Richardson 92.
==References==
Stevens, Wallace. "Two in Norfolk." Wallace Stevens: Collected Poetry and Prose. Ed. Frank Kermode and Joan Richardson. New York: Library of America, 1997. 92. Print.
Taylor, Cory M. "Blue Order: Wallace Stevens' Jazz Experiments." Journal of Modern Literature 32.2 (n.d.): 100-16.