Reading Between the Lines
Ernest Hemingway is a well-renowned author and poet, while Wallace Stevens never received the same accolades that Hemingway has. (He might not have wanted the attention). Both of these authors lived in a similar period of time, and were able to be a part of many of the same enormous events that helped shape the world.
Prior to engaging in your first task, read both of these gentlemens' bios. In your mind, note what would have possessed each of these two individuals to write the respective works that we are studying. And since Stevens' persona is more amibiguous than Hemingway's, in Stevens' bio, note the significance of this sentence: Poetry for him was an irresistable urge ("one writes poetry because one must") where as business success was largely a means to attain the independence and privacy he needed for his poetry.
From this sentence, think of the significance that poetry played in Stevens' life.