Indian River (poem)

"Indian River" is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, Harmonium.

The trade-wind jingles the rings in the nets around the racks by the docks on Indian River.

The linked prepositional phrases oblige the reader to construct complex visual images of the Floridian scenes, and the focus on jingling in each sentence brings sound to the images as well.

The similarity of syntactic structure in the first three sentences induces an almost hypnotic effect, like repetition of a mantra.

The final sentence may betray the poet's diffidence about the prospects for renewal, as in Depression Before Spring, or, as Cook suggests, it may simply reflect Stevens's belief that Florida had no spring.