The Man With the Blue Guitar (Part 1)

Over the weekend I cracked open my bible and began to thumb through it in the effort to discover one simple idea: who is the impossible-possible philosopher that we have constantly discussed in class? Stevens hints at this individual in Two or Three Ideas, when he states:

In an age of disbelief, or, what is the same thing, in a time that is largely humanistic, in one sense or another, it is for the poet to supply the satisfactions of belief, in his measure and in his style... I think of it as a role of the utmost seriousness. It is, for one thing, a spiritual role... To see the gods dispelled in mid-air and dissolve like clouds is one of the great human experiences... It was as if they had never inhabited the earth. There was no crying out for their return. They were not forgotten because they had been part of the glory of the earth (Stevens 841-42).

 Here we are able to see him explain an individual that is supplementing a reality that we can believe in: one that makes the ideals dispelling gods not just something that can be fathomable, but completely and utterly possible. The idea of this poet allows for humankind to exist at an evolved (or Northern, if you will) sense of thought. This works well with what Greenblatt discusses as being one of the major lurcretion functions: understanding the nature of things generates great wonder. This evolution of thought generates the understanding that gods merely stemmed from a primitive conceptualization of the world: we needed them to help us understand what mysteries lie out there. However, as mankind's understanding of the world and its surroundings of what makes it work became more and more sophisticated, our interest and need of them had decreasaed (to a point where arguments center around mono-theism and an all powerful, all knowing God).

If we were to follow this train of thought, then the idea of this impossible-possible philosopher would seem irrevalant, and unnecessary at best. I mean, come on! The idea of someone who can capture feelings that are so monumental that he can cease the belief in deities seems to be something of the past!

And then I read " the Man With the Blue Guitar," and this entire train of thought has subsequently been shattered.

There are currently three thoughts running through my head: what is the importance of blue, when the picture clearly demonstrates a man holding a brown guitar? In a world where polytheism has given way to monotheism, how can one continue to strive towards actions that dispel the gods and dissolve them to non-existence? Finally, the question that started this blog post: who is the impossible possible philosopher? (For that last one, here's a hint: change "guitar" to "box")

Stay tuned for part two..

Post Script: I like comments on my blog posts, even if they completely challenge what ideas I'm trying to present.