Belle Scavoir

"Bouquet of Belle Scavoir" appears in Stevens' Parts of a World collection (1942). Belle scavoir is translated loosely in many variations but can best be defined as nature that should be perceived as beautiful through intelligence or wit, but within the confines of the poem, the definition of the term remains elusive. Nature, referred to as "she" within the poem, consistently eludes comprehension by man, named only as "he." Stevens writes: "The reflection of her here, and then there, /Is another shadow, another evasion, / Another denial. If she is everywhere, / She is nowhere, to him" (v, 1-4). Man only can perceive nature's shadow, reflection, and "tinsel changes" distorted by the light and dew (ii,3)  though he longs to look upon and know nature fully. [1]
==Notes==
Stevens in Kermode and Richardson 211-12.
==References==
Stevens, Wallace. "Bouquet of Belle Scavoir." Wallace Stevens: Collected Poetry and Prose. Ed. Frank Kermode and Joan Richardson. New York: Libary of America, 1997. 211-12. Print.