The Idea of Order at Key West
What is the main conflict in The Idea of Order at Key West by Wallace Stevens?
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One of the great ironies of "The Idea of Order atKey West," is that for a complex poem, its plot is rather simple. An unnamed speaker is walking along thebeach of Key West and hears a woman singing a song. The song enchants the listener/speaker, and as the woman is singing, he begins to muse on the beauty of her song and its relationship to his own life, particularly his ideas on reality and imagination. Finally, after listening and thinking, the speaker experiences a kind of epiphany, a moment of insight. While few would question these basic facts of the poem, the debate takes place around what Stevens thinks of the song and what kind of epiphany he experiences.