Stockholm

Stockholm, the capitol of Sweden, is considered a great balance of modernity and ancient mystery. While the downtown area is home to cutting edge fasion, technology, and design, the older district, Gamla Stan has cobblestone roads and aging buildings. Parts of Stockholm are on islands, and parts are surrounded by the rocky archipelago islands. Because it is on the coast, both Sweden and Scandinavia claim Stockholm. There is much rich tradition and culture both of the modern and traditional ages.
==Significance to Stevens==
Stevens had heard of wonderful things from Stockholm through letters from Barbara Church, the widow of his friend Henry Church. In 1947, for example, she tells him of the wonderful night life that splits between Scandinavia and Sweden, and she sends him several pictures of the city (Lensing 236). The only mention Stevens makes of Stockholm in his letters is upon request for Peter H. Lee to bring something artwork from Korea. He mentions that there is also much good Eastern art in Europe, especially in Stockholm (839).
Stevens makes mention of Stockholm, however, twice in his poetry: once in "Botanist on Alp," ("What composition is there in all this: / Stockholm slender in a slender light, / And Adriatic riva rising, / Statues and stars, / Without a theme?") and once in "Holiday in Reality" ("It was something to see that their white was different, / Sharp as white paint in the January sun; / Something to feel that they needed another yellow, / Less Aix than Stockholm, hardly a yellow at all"). In both of these instances, Stockholm is held in high esteem. Beautiful Stockholm--more beautiful than Aix--without some sort of meaning or theme is practically useless.
==Sources and Further Reading==
Lonely Planet's Stockholm page
Wallace Stevens: A Poet's Growth, by George S. Lensing, on Google Books
Letters of Wallace Stevens on Google Books