Escapism

Recreation or entertainment intended to provide a means of distraction from every life. Escapism became a favorite philosophical topic in the 1920s and 30s, with figures such as Tolkien and Lewis even weighing in. The debate depended on several perspectives:
#Escapism is a healthy enterprise that provides a mental break, thus enabling one to return to daily pursuits.
#Taken to extremes, however, escapism can be negative, as those who practice may be be understood to lack the ability of dealing or connecting with reality. 
#Those who oppose escapism are attempting to control others, infringing on their freedom of imagination.
#And yet, those who practice escapism are neglecting reality, when they could be attending to the real world and making it a better place.
==Stevens's Poems that Include the Word "Escape"==
The Cuban Doctor, line 1
Two at Norfolk, line 19
The Poems of Our Climate, line 19
Variations on a Summer Day, line 37
Extracts form Addresses to the Academy of Fine Ideas, line 187
Two Versions of the Same Poem, line 37
Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction, It Must Give Pleasure, line 483
An Ordinary Evening in New Haven, line 429
To an Old Philosopher in Rome, line 29
Owl’s Clover, A Duck for Dinner, line 612
Solitaire Under the Oaks, line 4
==Connections to Stevens:==
*Holly Stevens, Letters of Wallace Stevens. 
**February 18, 1942, to Mr. Simons:
“About escapism: Poetry as a narcotic is escapism in the pejorative sense. But there is a benign escapism in every illusion. The use of the word illusion suggests the simplest way to define the difference between escapism in a pejorative sense and in a non-pejorative sense: that is to say: it is the difference elusion and illusion, or benign illusion. Of course, I believe in benign illusion. To my way of thinking, the idea of God is an instance of benign illusion.” 
*December 8, 1942, to Mr. Henry Church:
“For instance, if we are willing to believe in fiction as an extension of reality, or even as a thing itself in which we must believe, the next consideration is the question of illusion as value. Under the name of escapism this is one of the problems that bothers people.”
Stefan Holander, Wallace Stevens and the Realities of Poetic Language. Holander reads “The Man on the Dump” as a form of escapism.