Wag The Cat
F.R.R. Mallory
April 22, 2007

In 1927, Niels Bohn and Werner Heisenberg, quantum physicists, extended the problemistic interpretation of quantum mechanics when they stated that "a system stops being a superposition of states and becomes either one or the other when an observation takes place" (Gibbins, "The Copenhagen Interpretation" - Q is for Quantum). This controversial concept became the theory we identify as "Schrödinger's cat."

At approximately the same time Wallace Stevens, the poet, was exploring "the dependence of reality itself - on the human observer with - the self as active observer of reality and - the self as creator of reality" (Stevens 1234). This juxtaposition or paradoxical thought positions the observer between imagination and reality with "reality as the product of imagination as it shapes the world" (Stevens).

In this way Stevens retires older poetic forms as "souvenirs" in much the same way that James Carse identifies the field of play by the trophies taken which can only exist upon a finite stage. As Stevens notes, "the theatre was changed, to something else" (1249). This becomes his observation of the stage as infinite and the objective as the continuation of play rather than the goal tending or trophy collecting of earlier poetic forms. This movement of the stage into the infinite arena reflects the modernist approach with reality as blur or the merging of live cat and dead cat in constant swirl with the matrioshka dolls nesting and unnesting as awareness, perception and observation flip the switch on imagination and reality. As an active process poetry/reality cannot exist as past but only in constant present and the act to move such thoughts, words or ideas into the past is the attempt to kill the very nature of reality. You can never be present with the cat until you are present with the cat. And you can never be present with the cat because the cat as 'present' is never the wholeness of the cat. When the cat is both alive and dead and you are present or observing - then, well, you see...that's the point. You cannot make the present the past because the present is always present and no matter where you position yourself your perception or observation will always be in the present.

This concept of reality as an active process is where Stevens wags Schrödinger's cat, reminding us that the cat is always both alive and dead, its state perpetually real and unreal. This brings Stevens right to the point when he tells us,  "modern poetry is "the poem of the mind in the act of finding...the poem of the act of the mind" (Stevens 1249).

Works Cited

Baym, Nina. Gen. Ed. "Wallace Stevens." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 6th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 1979.

Carse, James. "Finite and Infinite Games." New York: Ballantine Publishing Group. 1986.

Gribbin, John. "The Ensemble Interpretation is Now Only of Historical Interest". Q is for Quantum. New York: Free Press. 1999

Stevens, Wallace. "Of Modern Poetry." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 6th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 1979.

Wallace Stevens
1879-1955

I find poetry incredibly difficult to analyze because it is such shorthand and such expanded white space that I am either precariously perched on too narrow a line or afloat on a vast frontier of potential.

Wallace Stevens and Prof. Weser equally surprised me by offering the opportunity for uncensored comment. I cannot say enough about the generosity of individuals who step back just far enough to allow others to stretch. It's rare and both of these men managed to do this for me. One, long after his death. The other so very present in my life.

Here is one image of the cat!

and another of quantum mechanics...

These images link to their source sites.

I am dearly in love with these theories even though I always feel I can only barely hold them in my mind. This is me sharing them with you!

HOME | MALLORY'S WORKS | COOL STUFF | JOURNAL | TRUNK | ABOUT MALLORY

© 2007 F.R.R. Mallory