Gertrude Stein

"Why Do You Feel Differently."

This cryptic, modern poem is separated into two sections; the first consists of five lines of normal length and the second section consists of twenty-four short lines (mostly two or three words long).  The difficulty in interpretation comes in connecting the two sections in a meaningful way.  The first section asks the audience "Why do you feel differently about" various entities of different sizes, quantities and states of being.  The entities mentioned in the questions are all plants and animals.  Rather than ending these questions with question marks, Stein chose to end each one as though it were a statement; with a period. The effect is paradoxical.  Are these questions or statements? Beginning a sentence with a question and ending with a period creates a shock in the reader who is unaccustomed to this type of irreverence for syntax and semantics.  The last line of the first section is counter-intuitive. It states "All nice wives are like that."  The interpretation is open ended.

The second section of the poem is a series of short statements as stated above.  The word "please" with its variations of use is explored. We find that the word "please" can have a number of connotations.  It can refer to pleasure, it can express suffering, it can express humility, and other ideas. My personal interpretation of the poem could also be referred to as my best guess as to what Stein meant to say.  However, it is presumptuous to assume that anything was meant.  Stein's poems are sometimes playgrounds of words for the mind to learn and explore rather than solid arrangements of ideas to be cognitively adhered to by the reader/audience. To me, the poem is a simple statement about women, but more specifically, the role of the wife.  Wives are required to keep practical knowledge about the management of daily lives and needs. Objects and beings in the natural world will come in various sizes, quantities and states of being and it the job of the wife to know how best to utilize or avoid these things.  The speaker of the first stanza seems to be the man who finds himself in a different role and who doesn't see why she bothers over specifics.  The second stanza is spoken by the wife who seems imprisoned by the conventions of her role in all of her efforts to please and say please. Also, the passage asks the reader to go through the folder in his/her verbal memory that is labeled "PLEASE" and to re-sort its contents.


For this reader, Stein's aesthetic is not unlike the painterly school of Abstract Expressionism that arose after World War II.  This style came just as Stein died in 1946.  Believing that artists typically seek inspiration from all other arts despite their own chosen medium, it can be theorized that artists such as Pollock and De Kooning took some cues from Stein, at least indirectly. Her philosophy certainly resonated with certain trends in modernism.  As in the works of the Abstract Expressionists, "Why Do You Feel Differently." is a mixture of elements and ideas that seem orderly and chaotic simultaneously.  As did the AbEx painters, Stein walked the line between intentional impressions and random accidents.

The philosophical and artistic trends of the western world during the last 130 years or so have moved towards an increasing concentration on the sovereignty of the individual and Steins work is no different. The work is left open-ended so that the beholder is invited in and asked to interpret the piece according to his/her own ideas and experiences.  The artist looses his/her sovereignty over the content of the piece but gains a certain intimacy with the audience hitherto unknown.  This particular trend in modernism is present to this day in all art forms and particularly among the avant-garde. "Why Do You Feel Differently." is a prime example of abstract art which preceded its equivalent in imagery.  The methods demonstrated here had not yet extended into the methods of visual artists.  However, it is important to keep in mind that this particular style was only one of many employed by Stein during her career.  The effect is existential; it is the duty of the individual to determine meaning. Ultimately, this is always the case but more nebulous works of art and literature allow for a greater range of interpretation to those who would allow themselves to experience these works with open minds and a willingness towards introspection.  This almost "Zen" kind of aesthetic openness meets with adverse reactions to this day.  Perhaps people are not willing to form their own interpretations and get to know themselves better.

Of course, this is my individual interpretation. The beauty of Stein's style is that it allows the individual reader/audience member to make of a poem as he/she will.  There are no right answers, nor any wrong.

I always thought of poetry as being written so that it could be read aloud.  This type of modernism in poetry requires that we see the printed text for ourselves.  Simply hearing someone read it aloud, we have not experienced the work.  The punctuation and placement of words becomes important.  This is another way that modern works seem more intimate than their predecessors; the individual is confronted with the option of reaching inside for an interpretation that cannot be found elsewhere.