Study of Two Pears and The Man with the Blue Guitar

Wallace Stevens questions the concept of reality in these two poems. In “The Study of Two Pears,” Stevens contrasts what the images of the pears are not with descriptions of the painting of the pears. In the excerpt from "The Man with the Blue Guitar," when questioned about “playing things as they are,” the man responds, “Things as they are / Are changed upon the blue guitar.” Write one or two paragraphs in response to the following question: How might Stevens’s poems be a philosophical statement about the nature of reality? Your response should explore how Stevens presents reality and explores new ways of perceiving it. Cite lines and words from the poems to support your conclusions.