Stevens`s perennial concern was the role of the artist in the society in which he lives: What is the connection between the imagination and the real world? His conclusion, that the creation of art and the appreciation of beauty provide the source of meaning and order, is also an answer to his other major preoccupation, which is the quest for meaning in a world without God. Stevens`s work is private, cerebral, and full of fine discriminations of feeling; it is also characterized by the vast resources of his vocabulary. Many of his poems take the form of theme and variations--most notably his famous work, 13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.