Modernism's Modernist

Gertrude Stein’s famously difficult poetry fits in quite perfectly with many other aspects of her personality. Stein herself has refuted claims of her poetry being “automatic writing,” saying “there can be automatic movements, but not automatic writing. Writing for the normal person is too complicated an activity to be indulged in automatically.” Much thought and deliberateness was put into each and every word in her maze-like writing. Every punctuation mark, space and indent had a purpose on the complete effect of the work, just as every word was chosen to convey a very specific message, whether or not her readers could pick up on just what that message was. While to me and I’m sure many others Stein’s poetry is more like a puzzle, I can appreciate it for what it is. I piece together my own poem out of hers, and I pick out meaning relevant to my life and me. Not to belittle her writing, but to me, “Tender Buttons” felt almost like a ‘Choose your own adventure.” I took the words that she had given me and I took the structure that she had provided, but I assigned the poem a meaning specific to me.

Similarly, in Modern Art, artists like Henri Matisse and, Stein’s favorite, Pablo Picasso construct strikingly beautiful if somewhat confusing paintings. Each line, circle and color serves a purpose and was chosen deliberately by the artist to contribute to the overall panting. Picasso followed an outline constructed in his mind, one loaded with meaning, but purposely enigmatic. To him, it was loaded with meaning, but for a viewer, that meaning may not be automatically clear.

For me, Modern Art has always spoken to me much more than a simple painting of flowers. While beautiful, a still life is exactly that- a still life. A bowl of fruit or a lake can certainly carry a background story to assign it significance, but no matter what, those things cannot be anything else. However, a painting by Jackson Pollack or Paul Cezanne, splashed with color and sharp lines, can be anything that I can find in it. A circle can be a tear or an insect, a line can be a river or a staff, essentially, I can find anything that I am searching for in a Modern painting. This form of art is far more gratifying in a selfish way than other forms.

Gertrude Stein’s poetry is the Modern painting in the world of words. She allows the reader to have fun with her works and also, to play a part in the adventure of her poetry. She does not designate the feelings that must come with the poems, nor does she decide what the reader is to come away with after reading. Her writing invites the reader in, almost creating a partnership, and she leaves the entire experience open ended.

Stein’s renowned collection of priceless art fits in flawlessly with the art she created. She was consistent with her taste, choosing works that somehow mirrored her own. Mabel Dodge Luhan said about Stein’s writing, “In Gertrude Stein's writing every word lives and, apart from concept, it is so exquisitely rhythmical and cadenced that if we read it aloud and receive it as pure sound, it is like a kind of sensuous music. Just as one may stop, for once, in a way, before a canvas of Picasso, and, letting one's reason sleep for an instant, may exclaim: "It is a fine pattern!" so, listening to Gertrude Steins' words and forgetting to try to understand what they mean, one submits to their gradual charm” (Mellow, 1974, p. 270).

To me, this perfectly sums up what reading a Gertrude Stein poem feels like. Each reading of it is different and exciting, while sometimes confusing, each encounter with her poetry is undeniably pleasing in the simplest aesthetic terms.