Pascagoula

Pascagoula appears in the title of the poem "Some Friends from Pascagoula," published as part of Ideas of Order in 1936.
==What is Pascagoula?==
Located in Jackson County, Mississipi, Pascagoula is an industrial city with a population of 26,200 people. Prior to WWII, however, the town was small fishing village with only 5000 residents. During the war, the population exploded as the town played host to the wartime shipbuilding industry ("Pascagoula," Wikipedia).
==What is Pascagoula Doing in the Poem?==
Stevens' decision to set this poem in Pascagoula seems to have little to do with any personal interest in the place. The city is not mentioned in his letters, or anywhere else in his published writings. The choice seems to have been primarily rhetorical, therefore. Perhaps setting the poem here simply helped Stevens to ground the stock Southern characters--Cotton and Black Sly--that populate the text. It hardly needs to be pointed out that Stevens' choice of names here betrays a certain facile racism and regionalism.