The World as Meditation

“The World as Meditation” consists of eight three-line stanzas of varying length, as well as a three-line epigraph. One of Stevens’s most preferred forms, three-line stanzas, or tercets, offer a flexible structure. The speaker in “The World as Meditation” maintains a deliberate, contemplative pace with mostly end-stopped lines and interior punctuation for numerous pauses in the meter. Lines vary between four and six accented syllables per line, with more variation in the number of unaccented syllables, though the overall effect resembles a loose pentameter. The varying line lengths and metrical pauses create a tone between prose and poetry, one that suits the poem’s themes of waiting and uncertainty.

Instead of end rhyme, “The World as Meditation” relies on internal rhyme and alliteration for its structure and music. Nearly every line features at least one repeated consonant sound within the line, sometimes in complex cross or mirror patterns. For instance, in the poem’s first tercet, Line 1 echoes with “s” sounds, while Lines 2 and 3 have stronger alliterative patterns—“t” and “m” in Line 2 and “w” in Line 3.