Jar

As mentioned in the previous section of this guide, there are multiple ways to interpret the symbolism of the jar. From a feminist perspective, for example, the jar symbolizes masculinity asserting dominion over and making “no longer wild” a femininity traditionally characterized as uncontainable and untouched by the order represented by the jar (6). The jar can also symbolize Modern notions of progress and human advancement from a Western perspective, in which human technology curtails a natural world previously thought to be uncontrollable and disordered – the wilderness is made to “[rise] up to” the human technology upon the hill (5). Most generally, the jar symbolizes the power of human intervention and creativity, creating meaning where seemingly none existed before in a “slovenly wilderness” that “sprawled around” (3, 6).

Wilderness

Like the titular jar in Stevens’s poem, the wilderness is also filled with symbolic meaning. In addition to the symbolic...