21 pages • 42-minute read
A Carafe, that is a Blind Glass
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Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“Sacred Emily“ by Gertrude Stein (1913)
Stein wrote the poem “Sacred Emily” in 1913 and published it in Geography and Plays (1922). Unlike “A carafe, that is a blind glass,” “Sacred Emily” is a poem written in verse. However, the two poems have much in common. They feature repetition, alliteration, and a playful, confident, beguiling speaker who dislikes commas and loves to caress and abuse nouns. “A carafe that is a blind glass” contains the memorable declaration, “The difference is spreading,” while “Sacred Emily” marks the debut of Stein’s famous assertion, “Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose.”
The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot (1922)
As with “A carafe, that is a blind glass,” Eliot’s poem The Waste Land is a critical Modernist work that tends to disorient and puzzle readers. Eliot’s long poem features fragmentation, repetition, and multiple speakers. He, too, embraces a Cubist structure pulling in different blocks of text from other sources. Yet placed aside a poem like “A carafe, that is a blind glass,” Eliot’s famously complex poem appears less puzzling. Unlike Stein’s poem, Eliot still manages to convey identifiable emotions, settings, and characters. Eliot also does not scramble syntax nearly as much as Stein.
“Sleeping with the Dictionary” by Harryette Mullen (2002)
Both “Sleeping with the Dictionary” and “A carafe, that is a blind glass” are prose poems, with Harryette Mullen’s block of prose much denser than that of Stein’s. Thematically, both poems emphasize their engagement with words. They feature playful speakers, utilize alliteration, and issue many allusions, as “Sleeping with the Dictionary” cheekily alludes to Mullen’s intimacy with words and language—a closeness shared by Stein.
Further Literary Resources
A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf (1929)
Virginia Woolf is another famous Modernist whose personal life sometimes overshadows her work, which features many of the elements in Stein’s poem, including a stream-of-consciousness style and an emphasis on objects, food, and nouns in general. In A Room of One’s Own, Woolf’s book-length essay on the plight of a woman writer, the narrator embraces an enigmatic style with elusive statements like “call me Mary Beton, Mary Seton, Mary Carmichael or by any name you please—it is not a matter of any importance.” Just as Stein zooms in on the carafe, Woolf presents an intricate portrait of a cat without a tail and delves into the details of the food served at an extravagant lunch.
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein (1933)
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas brought Stein international fame. The book shows Stein’s ability to write in a relatively conventional manner, which is probably why it sold so well. The book details Stein’s captivating bohemian life and playfully references her ego since she has Toklas call Stein a genius. Yet the book isn’t deprived of the quirks of works like “A carafe, that is a blind glass,” as the text continually demonstrates Stein’s inclination towards repetition, her obsession with nouns, and her hostility towards commas.
“Eileen Myles on the Book That Made Writing Like Talking” by Eileen Myles (2017)
Eileen Myles is a well-known contemporary poet who doesn’t mind labels like “lesbian” or “queer.” In this article, Myles provides an enthusiastic and personal evaluation of Stein, which makes Stein and her work come across as less intimidating and more accessible. Myles’s appreciation of Stein demonstrates how her captivating personal life can ultimately lead people to put in the effort to understand her work.
Listen to Poem
Listen to Horselover Fat read “A carafe, that is a blind glass” by Gertrude Stein
Listen to a YouTuber with a deep, gravelly voice patiently recite the first poem in Gertrude Stein’s Tender Buttons, “A Carafe, this is a blind glass,” as well as the other poems in Stein’s 1914 collection.
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