Williams Carlos Williams endured many roadblocks and conflicts on his journey to be one of the most recognized and prestigious poets. He was one of few to ignore the tradition of complex poem structure, difficult word choice and evasive metaphors. Instead, he uses simple themes of nature and vivid imagery to impact his readers. Wind is a common motif throughout his work and symbolizes more than just a breeze. Williams uses wind to symbolize struggle and obstacles that hinder the path to success.
The Poem “To Waken an Old Lady” uses “a flight of small cheeping birds” as a simile to old age, which creates something beautiful out of a common fear by incorporating nature, and wind represents the blockade that stands in front of the road towards “a shrill piping of plenty.” The poem begins with a comparison depicted by an image: “Old age is a flight of small cheeping birds skimming bare trees above a snow glaze. Gaining and failing, they are buffeted by a dark wind” (1-9). The birds are flying through a “snow glazed” winter, and they are fluctuated by a dark wind, which exemplifies the resistance and reward that the birds are enduring. The
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The long winter begins with, “The half-stripped trees struck by a wind together, bending all, the leaves flutter drily and refuse to let go” (1-5). This demonstrates the power of endurance because in order for the tree to survive the harsh winter, the leaves must hang on. Although the theme is based on destruction and bitterness, there is beauty in this poem because the poet uses nature to describe the scene in a more vivid, visual image. Just like any other problem that is encountered, one must persevere and trudge on, for the troubles of winter will make its way to a promising spring. Although there is great loss during the winter, with perseverance and strength, one can win back whatever was
Williams uses dry and subtle words such as “car”, “coffee”, or even plain “water” to create this powerful and foreboding poem which is interpreted pessimistically after getting past the tedious words. Its implicit meaning can be hard to grasp because it is deeply embedded into the poem and also implies the opposite of what we are taught as humans; we grow up with plans, goals, desires too, and Williams opens the reader’s eyes to explain the pointlessness of it all. Williams writes this poem knowing he will contradict everything people learn to do starting from a young age. In spite of this, it may inspire readers to stop worrying about the small things and focus on the grand scheme, maybe get them “wanting to love beyond this meat and bone,” despite its adverse meaning (21). Ultimately, the author subduedly goes against the ideal rules of life and allows the reader to interpret it however they want- either explicitly understand that it is normal for humans to want thing, not want things, and be wanted, or implicitly understand that there is no point in investing in our desires, for when we die, our goals- both the finished and unfinished- will not matter in the
As characters in the poem are literally snow bound, they find that the natural occurrence actually serves a relaxing and warming purpose, one that brings together family. This effect is further achieved through the use of meter throughout the work as a whole. In its simplistic yet conversational tone, the author uses meter to depict the result that nature has forced upon these humans, who are but a small sample size that actually is representative of society that that time. Due to nature, the characters can talk, represented by the conversational meter, and thus, they can bond within the family. A larger representation of this more specific example can be applied to a more general perspective of human’s relationship with the natural world. Although “Snowbound” captures what humans do as a result of nature, it can also represent a larger picture, where nature appears at the most opportune times to enhance relationships from human to human. In “snowbound,” this is symbolized by the fire, “Our warm hearth seemed blazing free” (Whittier 135). This image relays a spirited, warm, mood full of security, which is expertly used by the author to show how fire, a natural phenomena, can provide such beneficial effects on humans. This very occurrence exemplifies how such a miniscule aspect of nature can have such a profound effect on a family, leaving the reader wondering what nature and its entirety could accomplish if used as a
... the end of the poem until “the rose tree’s thread of scent draws thin and snaps upon the air”, terminating life and dictating the start of another season.
Percy Bysse Shelley’s Ode to the West Wind is a dramatization of man’s useless and “dead thoughts” (63) and Shelley’s desire from the Autumn wind to drive these “over the universe” (65) so that not only he but man can start anew. The thoughts are first compared to the leaves of trees but as the poem progresses the thoughts are paralleled with the clouds and finally the “sapless foliage of the ocean” (40). Shelley personifies himself with the seasons of the Earth and begs the West Wind to drive him away thus allowing him to lost and become the very seasons. In the end Shelley’s metamorphosis is realized and he becomes the very wind and the power with which he humanized throughout the poem.
In John Updike’s poem “The Great Scarf of Birds”, he uses diction and figurative speech to depict the beautiful autumn season to show how inspiring and uplifting nature is to man. Updike chooses autumn as the season to set his story in because generally, it is the season that has the most vivid vibrant colors in nature such as the ripe apples which are described as “red fish in the nets (limbs)”. (Line 3) Updike paints the picture of the beauty of nature with the simile about the apples to show the reader what a powerful effect nature has on man. Updike goes on to discuss the elm trees that were “swaying in the sky” (Line 7) and the “dramatic straggling v’s” of geese. Updike uses these descriptive portrayals of na...
Williams’ minimalist writing style employed free verse and by maintaining simplicity allowed the wheelbarrow to be the center of attention. He accomplished this task by breaking up the poem, which consisted of one sentence, into eight lines and further divided it into couplets. The beginning line of each couplet was longer than the second line, which only had one word. This formation allowed the reader to focus on specific words before moving to the next line. This is best illustrated in the opening lines, “so much depends/upon,” (Williams 288). Already, Williams has established the importance of the object by conveying to the reader that many things are dependent on the object. It is also significant that none of the words in the poem are capitalized nor did Williams
In the poem, it seems that somebody is inside his or her dwelling place looking outside at a tree. The person is marveling at how the tree can withstand the cold weather, continuous snow, and other harsh conditions that the winter brings. Witnessed throughout the days of winter by the person in the window, the tree’s bark stays strong, however the winter snow has been able to penetrate it. The tree becomes frozen, but it is strong enough to live throughout the winter until the spring relieves its suffering. When spring finally arrives, the effects of winter can no longer harm the tree. The freezing stage is gone, and the tree can give forth new life and growth in the springtime.
“We pluck and marvel for sheer joy. And the ones still green, sighing, leave upon the boughs…” (14-16). This emphasis on nature reflects the respect and connection to the natural world the culture was trying to convey in their poetry. The colorful and illustrative descriptions of the physical world are indicative of the mindset and focus of these poems. Namely the fact that they were concerned with the world around us and the reality we experience as opposed to that of abstract concept of god or the supernatural as seen in other historical texts. This focus on nature is important because it sets the context in which the major theme of loss and separation originate from. In this poem the poet chooses to emphasize the passing of time in the choice of comparing the two seasons. Spring, in which life begins a new, and fall, in which the leaves begin to fall off and die. The poem reads “And the ones still green, sighing, leave upon the boughs- Those are the ones I hate to lose. For me, it is the autumn hills” (15-18). This juxtaposition of these two
...years later, it becomes clear that for all the emphasis put on art, on creation, and on mass production—nature is central to our human experience. We can symbolize this natural connection with art—but the art itself always harkens back to something that elicits an emotional response from the viewer. For Leontes, a statue of his presumably deceased wife, Hermione triggers a sorrowful reaction. Art indeed embellishes life as it does with flowers, but we are always working from some perspective, some emotion, before we are merely creating art. “The Winter’s Tale” takes on the challenge of investigating whether or not art can in fact breathe outside the womb of nature, and as we witness art break down, and nature hold the characters together, it becomes resoundingly clear that art seeks to react to nature, but that it cannot work without maintaining nature at its core.
The wind seems to be a symbol of hope. Hope that he has entrusted in the form of nature. A hope that maybe he can trust that there is no such thing as a ghost that is lurking around tapping on his widows and chamber doors. The narrator looks for a way to make the wind the source of his problems instead of the potential cause that he is having repercussions from a broken
Williams, William Carlos. The American Idiom: A Correspondence: William Carlos Williams & Harold Norse 1951-1961. Ed. John J. Wilson. Bright Tyger. San Francisco 1990.
This is a metaphor comparing the poet’s voice to the wind. The poet uses these two metaphors to draw comparisons between himself and the
“A Bird came down the Walk,” was written in c. 1862 by Emily Dickinson, who was born in 1830 and died in 1886. This easy to understand and timeless poem provides readers with an understanding of the author’s appreciation for nature. Although the poem continues to be read over one hundred years after it was written, there is little sense of the time period within which it was composed. The title and first line, “A Bird came down the Walk,” describes a common familiar observation, but even more so, it demonstrates how its author’s creative ability and artistic use of words are able to transform this everyday event into a picture that results in an awareness of how the beauty in nature can be found in simple observations. In a step like narrative, the poet illustrates the direct relationship between nature and humans. The verse consists of five stanzas that can be broken up into two sections. In the first section, the bird is eating a worm, takes notice of a human in close proximity and essentially becomes frightened. These three stanzas can easily be swapped around because they, for all intents and purposes, describe three events that are able to occur in any order. Dickinson uses these first three stanzas to establish the tone; the tone is established from the poet’s literal description and her interpretive expression of the bird’s actions. The second section describes the narrator feeding the bird some crumbs, the bird’s response and its departure, which Dickinson uses to elaborately illustrate the bird’s immediate escape. The last two stanzas demonstrate the effect of human interaction on nature and more specifically, this little bird, so these stanzas must remain in the specific order they are presented. Whereas most ...
First of all, this essay will look at the West Wind itself, whose power can be seen as the power of revolution. Throughout the poem the wind is addressed as some sort of a higher being that is worthy of praise. It is remarkable, though, that the wind is not immedi¬ately characterised as an obviously perceptible entity. Instead, the description of the wind changes throughout the poem. In the first stanza, the wind is described as invisible: “whose unseen presence” (I, 2) indicates that the wind is hidden, but still there. Simultaneously, the wind is “moving everywhere” (I, 13) and also portrayed as
Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind" is a lyric poem. The poem addresses the west wind as the powerful force and the speaker asks the west wind to disseminate his words and thoughts throughout the world. The speaker narrates the vicissitude of nature and how the west wind changes the ground, the sky and the ocean. With rich imagination which is the reflection of Shelley's "defence of Poetry," the poet modifies the west wind, being both a destroyer and a preserver, as a symbol of revolution, an impetus of the rejuvenation in both human and natural world. Then, the speakers complains about the circumstances of his life, pleads to accompany with the west wind and states his prophecy about future.