A poet looks at the world the way a man looks at a woman.

Wallace Stevens, philosopher-poet of the modern age, once said: “A poet looks at the world the way a man looks at a woman.” In these words lies not only an image of desire, but the essence of how art is born: in wonder, in longing, in reverence, and sometimes in the ache of incompleteness. For the gaze of a man upon a woman has, through the ages, carried within it both passion and awe, both mystery and devotion. So too does the poet look upon the world—not as something to be consumed or explained, but as something to be cherished, pursued, and endlessly contemplated.

The origin of this thought lies in the dual nature of Stevens himself: a man who worked as an insurance executive by day and as a poet by night. He knew the contrast between the practical and the visionary. To his eyes, the world was not mere stone, sky, and commerce—it was alive, clothed in beauty and mystery. The poet, he tells us, does not gaze coldly upon the world as a scientist might upon an experiment. Rather, he looks with the tenderness of a lover, seeking meaning in every gesture of wind, every turn of light, every shadow cast across the earth. Poetry begins in this gaze of love and wonder.

The ancients, too, understood this union of love and perception. Sappho, gazing at her beloved, did not merely see a woman—she saw the embodiment of beauty itself, the fire that could set the heart trembling. Likewise, Rumi, the Persian mystic, looked upon his beloved Shams and found not just a man but the face of God shining through human form. These poets teach us that love is not only for the person, but for the entire universe reflected in them. Stevens carries this same vision outward: the poet looks upon the whole world as upon a beloved, finding beauty even in its brokenness.

Consider also Dante, who beheld Beatrice not merely as a woman but as the guiding light of his soul, leading him through the labyrinth of heaven itself. His gaze upon her was transformed into the Divine Comedy, a work that sanctified human love as a bridge to eternal truth. Stevens’s words echo this tradition: the poet’s gaze upon the world is charged with longing, intimacy, and devotion, so that even ordinary fields, rivers, or city streets are transfigured into something holy.

Yet Stevens’s teaching carries another truth: such a gaze is never neutral. Just as the gaze of a man upon a woman carries desire, vulnerability, and even the possibility of rejection, so does the poet’s gaze upon the world carry risk. To see deeply is to open oneself to sorrow. To long for meaning in the world is to encounter mystery that cannot always be resolved. But herein lies the nobility of the poet—the courage to love the world even when it does not yield all its secrets, to pursue beauty even when it hides itself, to remain faithful in wonder even when faced with silence.

The lesson for us is clear: let us learn to look at the world not with cold detachment, but with love. See the sunrise not only as a clock of time, but as a lover’s glance across your day. Hear the voice of a friend not as mere sound, but as music rising from the soul. Touch the earth not as property, but as the skin of a beloved. When you look at the world this way, you will find poetry everywhere, for the world responds to love by revealing its hidden depths.

Practical action flows easily from this wisdom. Each day, pause to gaze at one ordinary thing as though it were beloved: a tree, a stone, a passing face. Ask yourself: what beauty lies here? What mystery speaks through this? Record your impressions, or carry them silently in your heart. In doing so, you become not just a passerby in life, but a participant in its eternal romance. This is the poet’s way, and it can belong to all of us.

So let Stevens’s words be etched in memory: “A poet looks at the world the way a man looks at a woman.” Look upon the world as a beloved, not as an object. Look with passion, with tenderness, with wonder, with patience. In this way, your life itself will become poetry, and your days will be crowned with the sacred vision of love.