Gertrude Stein

Gertrude Stein’s poetry in Tender Buttons shows a few common themes throughout her work. I began to notice that she often uses words beginning with the same letters. “Charming very charming is that clean and cleansing. Certainly…” (Glazed Glitter). “The sight of a reason, the same sight slighter, the sight of a simpler negative answer, the same sore sounder… the same splendor, the same furniture” (A Piece of Coffee). She frequently uses descriptive words and often refers to color. “…if it is white and black, the band has a green string” (A Substance in a Cushion). Stein continues to use repetition throughout the food collection. In the Roastbeef piece she continuously uses the same phrases within passages such as; feeling, considering, time there is, it does (not) mean. Stein seems to use the ideas of zaum throughout her poetry and uses sounds rather than direct, definitive meanings.