Key West and Abrams

Well, as I see it, The Idea of Order at Key West incorporates all four of Abrams' classes of literary theory. First there is the Universe. The relationship between the poem and the theory of the Universe is evident in the poem's own creation myth. This "she" is singing the to the sea which inspires it into a new existence, that is why they see the town differently after she sings. She's not creating the Universe but changing it into her own creation. And that creation is sublty bigger than just the sea:
"But it was more that that, more even than her voice, and ours, among the meaningless plungings of water and the wind., theatrical distances, bronze shadows heaped on high horizans, mountainous atmospheres or shy and sea."
The sea is everything, the Universe.


Next, The Idea of Order at Key West incorporates Abrams' theory of the Artist. This is perhaps the most obvious of Abrams' theories, thanks to a few lines in the poem:
"She was the artificer of the world in which she sang. And when she sang, the sea, whatever self it had, became the self that was her song, for she was the maker."
Nothing could be clearer. She sang thus she created. An artist creates, whether through voice, painting, or writing and She created a Universe in the sea. At least that's how I see it. Without this She, there would be no song, no changing sea, no poem at all. Because of her artristy, and that of the poet Stevens, a Universe was created in and out of the sea.

Thirdly, The Idea of Order at Key West incorporates Abrams' theory of the Work, because quite honestly, the poem it's self is the work, according to Abrams' pyramid. Universe, Artist, and Audience all branch off the work, because they couldn't exist without it as their center. One might find it taxing to call a poem a "work", but I guess that's irrelevant. The Idea of Order at Key West is the expression of the artist, of the worker of the Work. Stevens wrote this poem that contains the elements of Universe, Artist, Work, and Audience and analyzing it thusly makes the poem a Work.

Finally, The Idea of Order at Key West incorporates Abrams' theory of the audience in two ways. One, right now I'm doing an indepth, intense study of the Work. I'm analyzing it's possible meanings and reading into it's so called hidden or encrypted texts. So I am an audience member who has formed a relationship with the poem.
There is also the second audience in the poem, the We:
"It was the spirit that we sought and knew that we should ask this often as she sang...As we beheld her striding there alone..."
She has an audience in the poem, an unidentified group of ordinary humans who observe her as she sing-creates the new Universe. The author of the poem itself can also be part of the audience, because the poem is written in first person. It seems as if the author himself was walking on the beach, observing as She sings her song that she sang.

On to Don Quixote. I am on page 368. The captive just finished his story of how he escaped prison and the adventure of saving Zoraida. This tale was a tragedy where as the previous reuniting of Cardenio with his Luscinda and Dorotea with her Don Fernando leaned more towards a Romance, maybe even a Romantic Comedy.
I never fail to be amused by how many audiences there are in this book at any given time. There is always me, but at times there is a whole herd of people playing the part of the audience, listening to various stories at various times. I have to giggle at the layer cake of audiences woven through-out the story. I'm the audience observing the audience who is observing the teller, who if he is crazy enough, might even have his own private mid-evil audience inside his own head. And I'm not naming any names.