This poem contrasts the cold of a late autumn day in the Northeast with the warm, welcoming atmosphere of a comfortable living room overlooking a park. Stevens once referred to the poem as “A Tea,” suggesting that it describes a gathering where you enjoy drinking tea together. Note that the speaker addresses another person in line five (“Your”), giving the poem a personal tone. Where do you see tropical imagery in this poem? How does it make you feel?
Tea
by Wallace Stevens
When the elephant’s ear in the park
Shrivelled in frost,
And the leaves on the paths
Ran like rats,
Your lamp-light fell
On shining pillows,
Of sea-shades and sky-shades
Like umbrellas in Java.
Glossary
elephant’s ear: a broad-leafed, warm-weather plant
Java: an island of Indonesia, in Southeast Asia, known for its coffee and tea
Wallace Stevens, "Tea" from Harmonium. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1923. Public domain.)