“After the Final No…” Some thoughts on rejection

I have a line from a Wallace Stevens poem framed in my office.

wallace stevens

Here’s why I love Stevens (1879-1955): the guy was a lawyer, toiling away most of his life in the executive offices of the Hartford insurance company. And yet on his way to and from work each day, and maybe on his coffee breaks, he wrote what he called “the supreme fiction”– poetry. And not just sentimental little verses for friends and family, but ambitious, architectural webs of words. He published his first collection, Harmonium (1923), at the age of forty-four. It sold only 100 copies. But Stevens kept writing, and he went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1955, just a few months before he died. And he left us with the poem shown below–one of my all-time favorites.

Whenever I look at the framed quote in my office, I’m reminded not to give up. That success takes many forms and that even the most lauded writers have faced days of doubt.

The Well Dressed Man With A Beard

After the final no there comes a yes
And on that yes the future world depends.
No was the night. Yes is this present sun.
If the rejected things, the things denied,
Slid over the western cataract, yet one,
One only, one thing that was firm, even
No greater than a cricket’s horn, no more
Than a thought to be rehearsed all day, a speech
Of the self that must sustain itself on speech,
One thing remaining, infallible, would be
Enough. Ah! douce campagna of that thing!
Ah! douce campagna, honey in the heart,
Green in the body, out of a petty phrase,
Out of a thing believed, a thing affirmed:
The form on the pillow humming while one sleeps,
The aureole above the humming house…
It can never be satisfied, the mind, never.

By: Wallace Stevens

Author: Susan Gloss

Susan Gloss is the author of the novel VINTAGE (William Morrow/HarperCollins, March 2014). When she's not writing, toddler wrangling, or working as an attorney, she blogs at Glossing Over It and curates an online vintage store, Cleverly Curated.

5 Replies to ““After the Final No…” Some thoughts on rejection”

  1. I’ve not read this poem before. It’s beautiful, and I love that you have a framed photo of that first line. I read this poem 10 minutes ago on your blog post and am still thinking about it! 😉

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