Wallace Stevens

Wallace Stevens (1879–1955) was an American modernist poet whose work explored imagination, reality, and the making of meaning. Born in Reading, Pennsylvania, he studied at Harvard University and later earned a law degree from New York Law School. Stevens spent most of his career in the insurance industry, rising to a senior executive role at The Hartford in Connecticut. His first book, *Harmonium* (1923), established his distinctive voice, blending philosophical inquiry with vivid, surprising imagery. He later published major collections including *Ideas of Order* (1935) and *The Auroras of Autumn* (1950). Stevens received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1955.