--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I placed a jar in Tennessee, And round it…" description: "\"I placed a jar in Tennessee, And round it was, upon a hill. It made the slovenly wilderness Surround that hill.\" — Wallace Stevens" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/525/wallace-stevens-846_art_i-placed-a-jar-in-tennessee-and-round-it_1691507.jpg" --- # I placed a jar in Tennessee, And round it was, upon a… ![“I placed a jar in Tennessee, And round it was, upon a hill. It made the slovenly wilderness Surround that hill.” quote by Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/525/wallace-stevens-846_art_i-placed-a-jar-in-tennessee-and-round-it_1691507.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/525/wallace-stevens-846_art_i-placed-a-jar-in-tennessee-and-round-it_1691507.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/525/wallace-stevens-846_art_i-placed-a-jar-in-tennessee-and-round-it_1691507.jpg) > “I placed a jar in Tennessee, And round it was, upon a hill. It made the slovenly wilderness Surround that hill.” [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A jar placed on a hill imposes order on the surrounding wilderness, highlighting human attempts to shape nature. **In simple terms:** A jar on a hill gives order to nature. Key Takeaway Use symbols to bring clarity. Themes order humanism nature art perception Mood contemplative reflective Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - landscape painting - urban planning - personal organization - environmental design Key Concepts symbolism aesthetics existentialism Questions to Reflect On - How does creating order affect your view of nature? - What symbols do you rely on? A Different Perspective Symbols may oversimplify complex realities. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Hill Slovenly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hill-slovenly-1059975/) [Hills](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hills/) [Jar Tennessee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/jar-tennessee-1059976/) [Jars](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/jars/) [Made](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/made/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Placed Jar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/placed-jar-1059977/) [Rounds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rounds/) [Slovenly Wilderness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/slovenly-wilderness-1059974/) [Surround](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/surround/) [Surround Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/surround-hill-1059978/) [Tennessee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tennessee/) [Wilderness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wilderness/) ## Related quotes > [“I placed a jar in Tennessee and round it was upon a hill.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/i-placed-a-jar-in-tennessee-and-round-it-was-upon-a-hill/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [Imagine a limitless expanse of water: above and below, before and behind, right and left, everywhere there is water. In that water is placed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramakrishna/imagine-a-limitless-expanse-of-water-above-and-below-before-and/) [Ramakrishna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramakrishna/) > [If they don't have the Grand Ole Opry, like they do in Tennessee, just send me to hell or New York City, it would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hank-williams-jr-2/if-they-don-t-have-the-grand-ole-opry-like-they-do-in-tennessee-just/) [Hank Williams, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hank-williams-jr-2/) > [My grandfather on my mother's side was a professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; my other grandfather was a lawyer,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-g-wilson/my-grandfather-on-my-mother-s-side-was-a-professor-of-mechanical/) [Kenneth G. Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-g-wilson/) > [Being a theater actor, I've done a lot of plays where I've seen someone else play the same role in another production. Especially with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacki-weaver/being-a-theater-actor-i-ve-done-a-lot-of-plays-where-i-ve-seen/) [Jacki Weaver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacki-weaver/) > [I'm a veteran. If I go into the V.A. hospital in Tennessee, I want to know that the procedures they're doing to me are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-roe/i-m-a-veteran-if-i-go-into-the-v-a-hospital-in-tennessee-i-want-to/) [Phil Roe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-roe/) > [I want to run for the Senate from Tennessee. Not now, but when I'm 50, when music dies down a little bit. I know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-mcgraw/i-want-to-run-for-the-senate-from-tennessee-not-now-but-when-i-m-50/) [Tim McGraw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-mcgraw/) > [I was one of the first three black students to go to an all-white school in Tennessee.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gil-scott-heron/i-was-one-of-the-first-three-black-students-to-go-to-an-all-white/) [Gil Scott-Heron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gil-scott-heron/) > [In the world outside this glass room, songbirds are feeding and resting in the trees. Some will take off tonight and not land until…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sandra-steingraber/in-the-world-outside-this-glass-room-songbirds-are-feeding-and/) [Sandra Steingraber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sandra-steingraber/) > [I love Tennessee Williams; as a playwright, he's so poetic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-bourne/i-love-tennessee-williams-as-a-playwright-he-s-so-poetic/) [Matthew Bourne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-bourne/) > [I don't even want to call it God. I just want to call it connecting with something that's greater than I am. So that's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/valerie-june/i-don-t-even-want-to-call-it-god-i-just-want-to-call-it-connecting/) [Valerie June](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/valerie-june/) > [If Vice President Albert Arnold Gore, Jr. had won his home state of Tennessee on November 7, 2000, he would have become president of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-bessent/if-vice-president-albert-arnold-gore-jr-had-won-his-home-state-of/) [Scott Bessent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-bessent/) > [I remember every player-every single one-who wore the Tennessee orange, a shade that our rivals hate, a bold, aggravating color that you can usually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-summitt/i-remember-every-player-every-single-one-who-wore-the-tennessee/) [Pat Summitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-summitt/) > [The way he shook his hips up there on that stage, but before that fateful day when he left Tennessee all of them were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-mcgraw/the-way-he-shook-his-hips-up-there-on-that-stage-but-before-that/) [Tim McGraw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-mcgraw/) > [Today the most outlaw thing you can possibly do in Nashville, Tennessee, is play country music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marty-stuart/today-the-most-outlaw-thing-you-can-possibly-do-in-nashville/) [Marty Stuart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marty-stuart/) ## More by Wallace Stevens > [Poet, patting more nonsense foamed From the sea, conceive for thecourts Of these academies, the diviner health Disclosed in common forms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/poet-patting-more-nonsense-foamed-from-the-sea-conceive-for-thecourts/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [The way through the world is more difficult to find than the way beyond it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-way-through-the-world-is-more-difficult-to-find-than-the-way/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [The magnificent cause of being, The imagination, the one reality In this imagined world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-magnificent-cause-of-being-the-imagination-the-one-reality-in/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [Music falls on the silence like a sense / A passion that we feel, not understand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/music-falls-on-the-silence-like-a-sense-a-passion-that-we-feel-not/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [The life of the city never lets you go, nor do you ever want it to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-life-of-the-city-never-lets-you-go-nor-do-you-ever-want-it-to/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [After a lustre of the moon, we say We have not the need of any paradise, We have not the need of any seducing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/after-a-lustre-of-the-moon-we-say-we-have-not-the-need-of-any/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [I am what is around me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/i-am-what-is-around-me/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [“We live in an old chaos of the sun, Or old dependency of day and night, Or island solitude, unsponsored, free, Of that wide…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/we-live-in-an-old-chaos-of-the-sun-or-old-dependency-of-day-and-night/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [“Lunar Paraphrase" The moon is the mother of pathos and pity. When, at the wearier end of November, Her old light moves along the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/lunar-paraphrase-the-moon-is-the-mother-of-pathos-and-pity-when-at/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [Poetry is the scholar's art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/poetry-is-the-scholar-s-art/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [“The stars are putting on their glittering belts, They throw around their shoulders cloaks that flash Like a great shadow's last embellishment”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-stars-are-putting-on-their-glittering-belts-they-throw-around/) [wallace stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [Unfortunately there is nothing more inane than an Easter carol. It is a religious perversion of the activity of Spring in our blood.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/unfortunately-there-is-nothing-more-inane-than-an-easter-carol-it-is/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [The word is the making of the world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-word-is-the-making-of-the-world/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [A diary is more or less the work of a man of clay whose hands are clumsy and in whose eyes there is no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/a-diary-is-more-or-less-the-work-of-a-man-of-clay-whose-hands-are/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [It is never the thing but the version of the thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/it-is-never-the-thing-but-the-version-of-the-thing/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) [Explore all 352 Wallace Stevens quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) ## More Art quotes > [True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/true-works-of-art-contain-their-own-theory-and-give-us-the/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. Accordingly...they became abominably wicked, and they were justly exterminated by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/before-noah-men-having-only-water-to-drink-could-not-find-the-truth/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [“Hear the sum of the whole matter in the compass of one brief word — every art possessed by man comes from Prometheus.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschylus/hear-the-sum-of-the-whole-matter-in-the-compass-of-one-brief-word/) [Aeschylus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschylus/) > [I think most artists feel like they're outside society - no matter how many accolades they receive, or how much money is in your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-rose/i-think-most-artists-feel-like-they-re-outside-society-no-matter-how/) [Aaron Rose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-rose/) > [The capacity to be puzzled is the premise of all creation, be it in art or in science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/the-capacity-to-be-puzzled-is-the-premise-of-all-creation-be-it-in/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [That's the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/that-s-the-great-secret-of-creativity-you-treat-ideas-like-cats-you/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“So, really," continued Jacob as if this were perfectly normal to expound on art in these circumstances, "when you think about it, the artists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justina-chen-headley/so-really-continued-jacob-as-if-this-were-perfectly-normal-to-expound/) [Justina Chen Headley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justina-chen-headley/) > [“There are two options in art; either to adopt philosophical life by dissecting art, or to write your own philosophical life and claim it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taf-teh/there-are-two-options-in-art-either-to-adopt-philosophical-life-by/) [Taf Teh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taf-teh/) > [The house has to serve comfort. 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