Nathalie's William Carlos Williams Page

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My Thoughts on William's Poetry
 
I am by no means an expert on William Carlos Williams.  I am a college student, studying literature, and I am also a visual artist.  However, the comments I am making regarding Williams' work are not my mere opinions -- they are suggestions and ideas carefully thought out on the basis of research I have conducted thoroughly.
 
The most important characteristics I find in Williams' work (in all of his work, throughout his career) is the clinical, scientific, "no-nonsense" approach to an artform which is often associated with romance, feelings, or social commentary -- in other words, psychology, how we perceive things (feel, think, or assume that they are a certain way).  Williams does not do the latter in his work.   He observes, and documents facts based on the observation. 
 
Technically, Williams cannot be called a poet of social commentary, because he does not comment -- he does not render his opinions. He simply just tells us the way things are (what he wants us to se...), and it is up to us, as readers, to form our own opinions based on what he gives us... 
 
He is the "photographer" snapping a picture of reality and revealing the photograph's details to the world...  These "photoraphs" of Williams' reality have not expressed a single word about politics, religion, or social injustice.
 
He shows us the pictures -- an extremely clever way for a poet to express his opinion about everything around him, without revealing a single viewpoint where he stands on social and political issues...  Personally, I believe that the purpose behind many of his works was to cast light on social issues and politics from the angle he wanted the line to be shone -- without having to take a stand publically about anything.
 
In his book, The Poetic World of William Carlos Williams, Alan Ostrom has the following thoughts on the issue of how the public is supposed to interpret Williams' poetry: "...Unfortunately for Williams' readers...he never identified himself with any formalized program for or against anything that would give them a handy scale for judging significance: he is neither communist nor Catholic, a fascist nor an anarchist..., anesthete nor a materialist...  This is not to say that he has no definite attitudes toward his world or ideas and ideals, but merely that one cannot judge his materials by others' standards..."  I personally disagree with Ostrom that Williams "...has no definite attitudes toward his world or ideas and ideals..." 
 
I think Williams was driven by strong personal oppinions, attitudes, and both ideas and ideals about everything it was possible to have an opinion about...  Without opinions -- without a solid stand on key issues in society (which does not mean that we always have to express our opinions, but we should have them...), how can anybody then create literature...?  To suggest that a highly intellectual poet is without personal opinions about his poems' themes just because he chooses to keep them from the public (which he should) seems a little naive to me.  I think Williams knew precisely what he was doing by distancing his voice (which he actually did not do after all if we think about it...) from what he wrote about.  I think Williams' way of avoiding the spotlight on his personal stands on various social issues was brilliant.  What Williams does in many of his poems, is that he teaches us about life.  He shows us the facts and it is up to us to form opinions based on what he says in the poem, not about what he believes for himself...  That is his business -- not ours...
 
By not getting caught up in lengthy, public discussions about his work by keeping his private life and personal opinions private, he actually strengthened his public voice, and was able to spend more time writing.  It seems to me that Williams did not like to discuss poetry -- he was put on this planet to create poetry -- for others to discuss... 
 
I also disagree with Ostron regarding his statement that it is unfortunate for the reader that they do not know Williams' stand...  It is not the poets' job to spoon-feed the meaning of his/her work to the reader.  It is the reader's duty to interpret what he or she reads.
 
 
Williams may have the Modernist movement in the history of literature, but his technical approach is that of a realist.  A representational painter, for instance, observes each object to be painted with the same care and intensity as a scientist observing an experiment or a physician observing an illness of a patient... 
 
Below are four main categories I think some of Williams' work could fit into.
 

"White Roses," by Nathalie Beck, 2001
roses5.jpg
Copyrighted by the artist -- all rights reserved

 
 
 
Poems About Things
Examples:  "This is Just to Say," "The Red Wheelbarrow," "The Birds," "Spring Storm,"  "Poem," and "A Young Woman at a Window."
 
Of course, not all of Williams' poems have social or political undertones.  Some are just what they appear to be about -- written "snapshots" of everyday life -- just pieces of art in themselves.  Some of his work remind me of still-life painting.  Dscriptive poetry of a scene, an object, or a person can be extremely powerful, just as many of Williams' poems about things are. 
 
When Williams writes about things, he also describes a mood through his brilliant use of language and poetic techniques, such as sound and rhythm.  It reminds me of how a still life painter creates a mood in the painting through the careful manipulation of color and light.
 
The poem "This is Just to Say," for instance, is not meant to be about anything else what the poem is telling, but it is the words, especially the adjectives the poet has chosen, that make those few, short lines into a work of art.  It is a very "painterly" poem.  It is not enough for a creator of poetry to observe and have a great eye for scientific details... In order to create poetry, one also has to be able to use language the way a painter uses his/her palette -- one has to give the poem a "soul" -- by creating a mood or appealing to the reader's senses, such as smell and touch/. 
 
Words are the poet's colors, and Williams' ability to "mix colors" is excellent.  Even the most realistic (even photo-realistic) still life painter creates a mood (a "soul" of the work) -- brings part of him/herself into the piece, with talent (of course), but also with "tools" as composition and lighting.  Williams use the techniques of verse in order to create the lighting and composition of this poem.
 
However, things, just as they are do also take on other roles in Williams' poetry.  For example, it seems to me that in "The Red Wheelbarrow," Williams uses things as symbols for other meanings.  The particular objects in this poem may be about the constants and the variables in the poet's own life.  For instance, if I read into it, it might seem that the wheelbarrow is a symbol of William's many responsibilities -- to his art, to his family, and to his patients... (maybe the whhen barrow is even a symbol of the poet himself...).  
 
When reading the opening words, "So much depends upon..., I get the sense of responsibility..."  The fact that the wheelbarrow is a wheelbarrow suggest work, and the fact that it is red makes it stand out (unable to hide or fade into the terrain), in great contrast to the other items that are discribed in the poem -- the raindrops and the chickens -- "see-through" color (the raindrops), and white (the chickens) are colors of flight, insecurity. Red is a color associated with permanence and intensity -- a color that it is impossible to ignore -- a color that is present... 
 
The wheelbarrow in itself is also a constant -- it is a solid object...  The chickens, on the other hand, may flee, or get lost -- they are not standing on the ground in one spot like the wheelbarrow....  I think the poem essentially is about the risks of having so much depend on you, that you may risk losing it all...
 
Something else I noticed in many of Williams' poems is that he not only describes objects (things) in a masterful and "alive" and at the same time, straightforard and candid, but he often describes flowers, landscapes, birds, and animals in that way too.  He seems to be "snapping" a photograph -- a slice of life which is part of a larger whole, or other times "painting" a scene that is more steady -- just there...  Still, he is creating moods that appeal to our senses (such as smell, touch or taste, for instance). 
 
I think Williams is brilliant in terms of creating lines that so naturally and effortlessly seem to somehow "register" with the reader's senses.   The poems, "The Birds," and "Spring Storm," are such "word-landscapes."  Both poems are quite short, and yet they stir up emotions in the reader, as well as "creating " a mood and a "memory" for the person who reads the poem.
 
Furthermore, I think some of his poems about animals or things are really about people.  For instance, in the poem called "Poem" (the one about the cat stepping into the flowerpot) seems to be about actions people take without thinking and the possible consequences for that. 
 
For instance, Williams starts out with the following words: "As the cat..."  The critical word here is "As" --- it is a word that immidiately calls for a comparison.  In this poem, Willliams is not describing the cat, but he is comparing something else (or someone -- a person) to the action the cat is taking...
 
Williams' fascination of things and also his ability to use small scenes (word-snapshots of nature) to tell a story, or appeal to the reader's emotions and senses may be rooted in his special interest in and knwoldge of science...  In science, it is all about the role about the small particles -- the little details...  Detail-observation is also a big part of being a doctor -- one much really pay attention to the minute detail at all times.... 
 
I think Williams is telling us through his work to take a little more time observing the little things -- the small, insignificant details of our lives -- these details may give us the clues about the larger picture and provide answers to much larger questions.
 
One poem I find particularly powerful regarding how a tiny detail tells a whole story is the poem about a young woman, with her son on her lap.  Just the sentence that says that the boy's nose is pressed to the window is enough to let us know that the boy's father, the woman's husband, is not there (and then it is up to our imagination to figure out where he is -- has he left, is he dead, has he gone off to war...?).
 
 
 
Poems About the Human Condition
Examples: "The Children," "Between Walls," and "The Snow Begins."
 
Some of Williams' poems start out describing what might seem at first glance as a descriptive landscape or elements of nature, such as flowers.  You prepare your senses for being open to portrayal of a particular mood, taste, smell, or sound.  However, you begin to realize almost immediately that this is a totally different kind of poem.  You get a feeling of that something is a little off - that the words that are used to describe the scene are maybe simpler, more straight- forward, and they may even be a little "sugary." 
 
The things described in these kinds of poems, often flowers,  are fully described right away.  You know the poem is not going to be about flowers or landscape or mood or the usual senses. These kinds of poems are those that are about the human condition -- portrayals of the various aspects of a person or several persons' lives, even the lives of people in an entire community -- or even the conditions of an entire nation. 
 
However, negative clues are not given to the reader right away, only slight suggestions (through the poet's specific use of language, rhythm, sound, and above all -- words...) that something is not right.  These poems are presented in such a realistic manner -- almost as though you are there yourself and experiencing the heavy pain of these poems. 
 
The poems on the human condition are just described the way you would witness it yourself if you came walking along, for instance, and suddenly see a dead person, for instance.  Death is part of life, and it is something that society does not want to acknowldge.  On the other hand, many of these poems by Williams are directly disturbing -- disturbing because they are so real (regardless of many being written in a surreal manner) -- they can remind us of a bad dream -- you are suddenly trapped in the middle of a situation you don't want to be in. 
 
Williams' technique in these poems seems to be similar to how he describes things -- it is just that descriptions of the human condition is a lot more uncomfortable to the reader than the cozy poem about the plums, for instance.  He uses no gimmicks, no attempts to gloss over the realities of our world.  These poems do not seem to be about other than just what it is -- some sort of pain, suffering, or loss -- and in some poems, right in the middle of a seemingly normal setting... Sometimes only the title is normal and harsh reality sets in with the first line. 
 
One such poem is "The Snow Begins," and it is about the ravages of war.  Moreover, this poem seems to address how the poet thinks the government deals with those who die in battle.  Williams describes death in this poem as being withe as snow.  In other words, something cold, distant -- something that eventually will just go away (as snow melts).  I think that the title of the poem refers to the loss of lives in war...  It seems to me that this is Williams' way of saying that the government does not want to acknowledge the realities of war -- that to them the fallen are nothing...  However, Williams is not saying this.  All he does is to describe death as being white -- comparing it to the snow...
 
The poem I found the most disturbing was the one entitled, "The Children."  From the title you expect the poem to be about children so you start envisioning kids running around.  However, because of the fact that children are not mentioned in the first line, you begin to wonder...  When the violets are described as yellow, you know something is not right, and approximately in the middle of the poem it is revealed -- the children are dead...  This is a life-reality that families struggle with every day.  Visiting graves of children was also very much a part of Williams' duties as a doctor, and I think what he tries to tell us with this poem is that is a reality of life.  He does not want to spear us for the aknowledgement of that reality -- he wants to share it with us.  It is as though he says, through this poem, "please, take care of your children.  Make sure they are healthy..."  At least, that is what I get from that poem -- it has the "look" of an infomercial.  With this poem it seems that Williams tries to instruct us to do something by showing us a tragic alternative...
 
Another poem of that same style, that same type of message (very much like an informercial) is the poem "Between Walls."  Personally, I think it is very powerfully written and I think it is the best of the four examples in this category...It is a poem about alcoholism -- about the devastations of the addiction to alcohol.  Just the fact that Williams specifies that the bottle is to be found between the hospital walls illustrates the hopelessness of that addiction...  In this poem, the real disease (at least the societal disease) is not inside the hospital -- not even outside the hospital area, but between the walls (outside).  It is such a precise description of how powerless even doctors are when it comes to people who drink...  it illustrates how those cases slip through the cracks of the system when they slip through the hands of the doctors -- and trapped between the walls -- between two "poles" of hopw and help.  In other words, these people are stuck, and I think that is what Williams is trying to convey here.  Although, Williams does not tell us not to drink.  All he does is show us what may happen...  Once again, he is just a "realist painter" even a "photojournalist" -- he only records what he sees and it is up to the reader how they want to interpret it.
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
Poems Dealing with Language as Theme or Subject Matter
Examples:  "You Pissed Your Life," "To Do Nothing," "Graph for Action," and "To Greet a Letter Carrier." 
 
 
What I find interesting regarding Williams' poetic theories regarding the use of language is how he seem to contradict himself...  For instance, Williams stated in several interviews that he wanted to take a distance from the use of poetic language that reminded him of British English rhythm and sound. 
 
That makes me wonder if this preference was something purely personal to Williams -- something to do with his obviously troubled relationship with his dad (who remained a British citizen throughout his life).  Is Williams' quest for a British-free poetic language in fact an attempt to liberate himself from his father's control and exaggerated demands for perfection from his son? 
 
In his (maybe a little shocking and uncomfortable) poem entitled "You have Pissed Your Life," Williams seems to go completely against his own desire and quest of truly American poetry.  For example, when he first chooses to use a swear word, he is not using an American bad word, but a British one.  It is quite interesting to see how Williams let not only language, but variations -- dialects of basically the same language, almost become the poem. 
 
The British are quite big on using the P-word in the form of a verb more than Americans do (Americans add the word "off" onto the P-word).  If Williams had put in an "off" after the P-word, it would right away have gotten an American tone over it (personally, I do not care much for that word in any tone, form, or shape, language, or dialect -- to me it just sounds plain vulgar and cheap, but Williams is actually making a powerful statement in this poem, and it is not about the P-word.  That word is only the tool he uses to make his point.
 
This poem clearly speaks about Williams' own disappointment in himself and his accomplishments in life (up until then), but is that really what the poem is about?  I don't think so...  It seems that there is is a great deal of thought behind the placement and choice of each word in that poem, and the way it is written makes me wonder if it is Williams' way of casting the blame of his perceived shortcommings on his father.  I don't think it means that either...
 
By using British words, the voice of the poem becomes the voice of Williams' father -- not the voice of Williams himself.  Williams seems to be putting down on paper what he might have felt his father have wanted to yell at him for years... 
 
Something I find condradictory to Williams' outspokenness about stearing clear of European influences in his poetry is his obvious interest in foregin languages.  For example, he was fluent in French, Spanish, and German, and he actively translated books for European writers.  Williams seems to have understood early on the long-term benefits of studying foreign languages.
 
When we learn international languages, we become more aware of our own language, and we are able to pay closer attention to nuances and details in all the languages we are learning as well as our mother tongue.  Williams seemed to be very dependent on European influences, such as keeping up with and mastering several foreign tongues. 
 
For every new word you learn in a foreign language, you become more aware of the specific meanings and small nuances of the words in your own alphabet because you constantly have to translate and compare meanings. 
 
During the earlier part of his career, Williams played greatly on language in several of his poems.  He did this in the form of playing with gramatical terms with specific sound and rhythm to is lines, as what is so prominent in the "verbally energetic" poem, "To Do Nothing."  In this poem Williams seems to be toying with gramatical terms and creating tounge-twisters with his use of words, as well as "meaning-twisters."
 
This work seems to be about the power and value of language -- how words take on specific meanings just because of the context we use them in.  It seems to be a poem about the important of language, and the chaos that would occur if the meaning of words changed.  Then, as the poem points out, sentences will change too, and language will lose its purpose -- without a clear language we would be lost  -- it would be as if our currency lost their value.... 
 
I think the "debate" in the poem regarding the meaning of " doing nothing" does not apply to those very words, but about the purpose and validity of language itself. 
 
Williams also played with words in a different manner, for the purpose of envoke reactions  (probably to plain provoke) in any reader who may think that writing poetry has to be boring or that poets only have to be serious (and more importantly -- the issue of taking oneself too seriously).
 
I think Williams took himself very seriously throughout his life (he wouldn't have reacted to Eliot's popularity the way he did if he had not taken himself seriously), and that he may have recognized this and made a conscious choice to "lighten up"  so he wouldn't be perceived that way by the outside world.
 
Williams-biographer Alan Ostrom writes the following:  "...It is important to realize that Williams does practice what he preaches: he refuses to divorce the 'serious' from the amusing.  He is not stuffy about poetry; it is a part of life in the here and now, not something sacrosanct, possessed of an innate self-seriousness.  For him it is too important to be merely serious." 
 
A poem I find illustrates this scholar's statement almost to the letter is "Graph for Action."   It starts with out with a "debate" regarding the use or acceptance of certain words -- legitimate words, then comes the end of the poem (and no comment from me is necessary here). 
 
I think the point of that poem is how we sometimes spend time debating the correct words to use (because of our personal preference of saying something a certain way, for instance) when it has no importance to our lives at all -- certain things are totally insignificant.  However, when we keep fighting about details like that, we can easily lose sight of the big picture, and that is what Williams seems to wish to convey.  He wants us to take life seriously...
 
 In other words, that little poem seems to be a big message about how we must put the things in our lives in the proper perspective and stop making a big deal out of minor inconveniences and perceived differences. 
 
I also think this poem was written with a sense of humor in mind by the poet.  It seems to be his way of telling us to "chill" for a moment -- to stop taking ourselves so seriously that we may become downright ridiculous.  The poem seems to speak to those with power to make decisions or somehow with power over others that they need to take themselves less seriously, because suddenly they can do or say something that would be downright stupid... 
 
There are several ways of making the use of language the focus, and even meaning of a poem -- sometimes the tone of voice in a poem, in addition to specific words, can give us clues as to what is going on in the poem (a poem that is what it is -- but first you need to figure out what it is, and then you can enjoy it for just that...).
 
One such poem is the short "To Greet a Letter Carrier."  The speaker is revealing his wishes and his worries, but to whom?  Who is the letter carrier?  The way the poem begins makes it seem like the speaker is a little strange, because of how he/she speaks to the letter carrier it is in a very open and childish manner (the speaker almost mares his/her soul to this bringer of mail).  It almost seems as though the speaker is rambling to himself...  However, with the words, "Atta boy! Atta boy!" in the very last line, we see who (or what) the letter carrier is -- a dog...
 
 
 
 
Poems of Hope
Examples: "The Lady Speaks," "To Flossie," and "The Orchestra."
 
Williams suffered from depression for a long time as an older man because of the strokes he had had.  When we know that about him, it is easier to understand the types of poems he wrote during the last decade of his life.
 
Many of his later poems seem very heavy in terms of mood, but they all seem to display a "silver lining" of hope, acceptance, forgiveness, and possibilities.  Ironically, it was in thears before death that he began writing more about life...
 
His poems are still very descriptive and precise.  However, the precision and examination is turned inward, it seems, toward the poet himself.  Both of the poems "The Lady Speaks" and "To Flossie" are love poems to his wife.  The overall tone of these poems is one of slight sorrow and also an emerging remorse.  However, what is interesting about studying these two side by side is that they are supposed to be from two point of views. 
 
The reader expects "The Lady Speaks" to be from Florence's (Flossie's) viewpoint, but it is not.  In the begining, it sets up for that, but toward the end of the poem it seems that the poet has taken charge...
 
However, although these poems were written when a lot of internal turmoil was going on with Williams, his last decade of work includes probably some of the most solid pieces of poetry he ever produced.   He is no longer under the pressures of having to see paitients at that point.  All he has is time...  Time to think and to reflect, and to create.
 
It was during this time, Williams came up with the style of "the variable foot" -- the triad-style that seemed to dominate most of his later poems.  He made the look of the poem into the same precision and accuracy as the content he described.  These later poems are descriptions of thoughts and ideas, not mere outpouring of feelings of hoplessness and regret.  I personally think the poems he created during hist last decade are the poems that ultimately gave him his voice -- and the fact that his voice is still heard today (people are reading his books...). 
 
Williams' later poems address real human concerns that sooner or later will touch most people...  Most of us will grow old and may experience debilitating illness, for example, and acceptance for what is will probably become a problematic issue for most.
 
The poem "The Orchestra" is a piece in which those issues are addressed -- the importance of self-acceptance and also forgiveness...  This poem is my personal favorite of Williams' poems.  Although I am a young person, I am an artist (which means I have an "old soul"...) and that poem is about self-acceptance, and self-forgiveness, as well about the sheer beauty of the gift of artistic talent. 
 
It seems to be Williams' "thank-you" card to the universe who gave him the artistic gifts...  The poem is a celebration of art...  However, it is also a journey -- a journey to the ultimate discovery that as an artist it is OK to make a mistake.  The poem talkes about "the wrong note", and it is this wrong note that the poet seems to come to terms with in this beautiful and poeceful poem... I interpret "the wrong note" to be the right for any artist to be allowed once in a while to make a mistake, face a setback -- not performing exactly the way that was planned (usually by others, such as parents...).
 
It seems that to Williams, accepting his "wrong note" was to accept himself as a poet even though his career may not have gone the way he wanted...
 
Toward the end of the poem it reads, 
"...Now is the time     .
                       in spite of the "wrong note" 
                                          I love you .  My heart is
inocent.
                       And this the first
                                          (and last) day of the world...