ModPo 2013 #28 Long Live the King: On Stein's "If I Told Him: A Completed Portrait of Picasso"

Gertrude Stein

IF I TOLD HIM:
A COMPLETED PORTRAIT OF PICASSO

If I told him would he like it. Would he like it if I told him.
Would he like it would Napoleon would Napoleon would would he like it.
If Napoleon if I told him if I told him if Napoleon. Would he like it if I told him if I told him if Napoleon. Would he like it if Napoleon if Napoleon if I told him. If I told him if Napoleon if Napoleon if I told him. If I told him would he like it would he like it if I told him.
Now.
Not now.
And now.
Now.
Exactly as as kings.
Feeling full for it.
Exactitude as kings.
So to beseech you as full as for it.
Exactly or as kings.
Shutters shut and open so do queens. Shutters shut and shutters and so shutters shut and shutters and so and so shutters and so shutters shut and so shutters shut and shutters and so. And so shutters shut and so and also. And also and so and so and also.
Exact resemblance to exact resemblance the exact resemblance as exact as a resemblance, exactly as resembling, exactly resembling, exactly in resemblance exactly a resemblance, exactly and resemblance. For this is so. Because.
Now actively repeat at all, now actively repeat at all, now actively repeat at all.
Have hold and hear, actively repeat at all.
I judge judge.
As a resemblance to him.
Who comes first. Napoleon the first.
Who comes too coming coming too, who goes there, as they go they share, who shares all, all is as all as as yet or as yet.
Now to date now to date. Now and now and date and the date.
Who came first Napoleon at first. Who came first Napoleon the first. Who came first, Napoleon first.
Presently.
Exactly do they do.
First exactly.
Exactly do they do too.
First exactly.
And first exactly.
Exactly do they do.
And first exactly and exactly.
And do they do.
At first exactly and First exactly and do they do.
The first exactly.
And do they do.
The first exactly.
At first exactly.
First as exactly.
At first as exactly.
Presently.
As presently.
As as presently.
He he he he and he and he and and he and he and he and and as and as he and as he and he. He is and as he is, and as he is and he is, he is and as he and he and as he is and he and he and and he and he.
Can curls rob can curls quote, quotable.
As presently.
As exactitude.
As trains.
Has trains.
Has trains.
As trains.
As trains.
Presently.
Proportions.
Presently.
As proportions as presently.
Father and farther.
Was the king or room.
Farther and whether.
Was there was there was there what was there was there what was there was there there was there.
Whether and in there.
As even say so.
One.
I land.Two.
I land.
Three.
The land.
Three.
The land.
Three.
The land.
Two.
I land.
Two.
I land.
One.
I land.
Two.
I land.
As a so.
They cannot.
A note.
They cannot.
A float.
They cannot.
They dote.
They cannot.
They as denote.
Miracles play.
Play fairly.
Play fairly well.
A well.
As well.
As or as presently.
Let me recite what history teaches. History teaches.
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This was an amazing piece of work! I especially liked the dance interpretation of the poem. It makes it come out funnier (truer to the tone, I think). Stein was a truly amazing woman, especially when she audaciously tries to out-Picasso Picasso himself!

I like the repetition of the words and how it makes me think about the political implications of the words: Napoleon, Napoleon the first, he, he, he, exactitude, exactly, resemblance, king, queen. And then that final punch: "History teaches." I immediately finish the sentence with "History teaches us nothing." I first heard that in Sting's song entitled "History Will Teach Us Nothing" (see how popular culture finished that sentence for me!) long before I researched the term and found out that it is a quote by Hegel, an eighteenth century philosopher. Immediately left alone with just my own thoughts after reading the poem, I also thought of Coldplay's Viva La Vida, also on kings, power and the constant imbalance of power.

The endless references that flow from Stein's poem was a revelation to me. It held a mirror up to me. Once I got past the absurdity of the repetitions and the seemingly nonsensical order of words...I am confronted with my own thoughts of art, of power, of kings and their fragile hold on power. What are all these recitations for? We recite the names, we recite the movements. But to what purpose? Are we not cruel to those who were once celebrated? Do we not lift up from obscurity some works and put them on pedestals? Who decided that? Aren't those decisions easy to overturn depending on who is in power?

I loved how Stein equated poetry to the power of the Cubist movement in painting. Words are powerful. Words are as powerful as images. Both are part of our human language. Both are signifiers and the signified. If one really dwells in each repetition, one will see the multiple facets of a single word. Words arranged in defamiliarized syntactical order are as powerful as the subversion of the traditional realist image in the world of painting. I also liked how, in the video discussion, there was the question of whether poetry was a more powerful medium than painting. A false binary, I suppose. When we highlight the foreground, we forget that there is a background. When we highlight the background, we forget that there is a foreground. That is the multiplicity and wholeness of language. When we say "Long live the king!" we also mean to say "The old king is dead." And then there is the endless cycle of kings.

Wow.