The singer and the lamp

The basic principle discussed by M. H. Abrams in his book "The Mirror and the Lamp" explains the shift in literary theories from mirror literature that reflects the real world and lamp literature that spills the soul from its creator.

The singing girl in "the Idea of Order at Key West" exemplifies the Abrams lamp theory. While the lamp generally applies to the actual artist of the work (i.e. Wallace Stevens) I believe a good argument can be made that the true artist of the poem is the girl whom both the direct audience (Ramon Fernandez and the narrator) and the reader fall captivated by the song she sings. The singers ability to evoke indescribable emotion from her audience through song coincides with the idea that the artist spills fourth his or her soul to shed meaning on the world. "The heaving speech of air, a summer sound/ Repeated in a summer without end/ And sound alone. But it was more than that,/ More even than her voice, and ours, among/ The meaningless plungings of water and the wind." This quote illustrates how the song evokes a feeling of nostalgia so indescribable it must be compared with the songs ability to belittle the mighty sea. "She was the maker" that re-ordered the world both reader and the narrator lived in due to the sheer power of her song. The powerful ability to shape the audience's world perfectly exemplifies Romantics critics focus on the artist and meaning.