In the fourth of his very fine collection of Oxford poetry lectures, entitled Owls and Artificers, Roy Fuller, praising Wallace Stevens, at one point writes: ‘I wouldn’t want to leave this aspect of Stevens without saying that he himself was perfectly aware of the objections to his existence as the existence of a poet which many of you have no doubt been silently raising. Mentioning his forthcoming collection of poems, Auroras of Autumn, in a letter of 1949 he said: ‘I don’t know how the book will be regarded,’ adding: ‘It is not easy to experience much in the rather routine life that I lead.