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William Carlos Williams, a famous poet and coiner of the belief in no ideas but in
things as stated in one of his work, Paterson written in 1927, is an American Imagist and
Modernist poet and doctor. In William Carlos Williams Sour Grapes, published in 1921,
which contains many of Williams great poems, including: The Desolate Field, Complete
Destruction, and Willow Poem. Within those of poems, negative abstract ideas were
expressed through the concrete images of nature created by Williams figurative word
choices.
Within the poem The Desolate Field, the idea of disillusionment, grief, alienation,
and loneliness after World War I was displayed through the usage of image of the vast gray
sky and the goat. The poem The Desolate Field is one of the poems that Williams has
written in 1921 when the idea of disillusionment and alienation is widely spread amongst
people. The field, where the scenario takes place, is described to be full with ...tall, dried
grasses (5). However, there is a goat [which] stirs / with [its] nozzle searching the ground.
(6-7) in the midst of the barren field, which is abnormal for a goat since it usually grazes for
fresh, green grasses. On the other hand, the narrator describes the sky as being Vast and
gray (1) and eventually later on within the poem describes his state of mind through the
statement my head is in the air / but who am I? (8-9). The goat that grazes in the
middle of a barren field represents the narrator in the sense that the narrator is lonely and is
lost. The dead grass serves as the dead, old identity and beliefs the narrator had before and
the act of searching of the goat illustrates ones doubt on their preexisting faith and existence
and the searching of truth in the old belief that has been dead in the eye of the narrator,
meaning that all of the old beliefs have been lost. In addition, the sky being vast and gray
emphasizes the feeling of loneliness expressed through the use of images and the space
expressed by the figurative word choice. The emptiness of the sky and the color of the sky
within the scenario builds on the feeling of loneliness due to the common association of the
hue to negative emotions such as sadness, loss, grief, and despair. Complementary to this, the
narrator describes his state of mind in the line, my head is in the air, saying that, perhaps,
he is lost and is struggling in order to hold onto his ideas and previous identity. The concrete
images of nature expressed through the figurative word choices within the poem reinforces
Complete Destruction includes the usage of a cold, icy day to express the abstract
idea of sadness and numbness after a loss and expresses the idea of death through the usage
of the image of earth. Complete Destruction is another poem written and published by
Williams in 1921. The poem is about the process of burying of a cat on a cold, icy day.
Overall, there is no mentioning of any feelings or abstract ideas within the poem. Instead, the
ideas were expressed indirectly through the use of images within the scenario. Within the
poem, the setting was described to be ... an icy day. (1) when the narrator ... buried the cat,
/ then took her box / and set fire to it (2-4). After that, the fleas that were in the box
...escaped / earth and fire (6-7) and eventually, died by the cold (8). The usage of the
phrase icy day instead of the word Winter both gave a better image of the setting and
expressing the numbness and the grief that the narrator feels after the loss. It also sets a
depressing, sad mood to the poem. The fact that the narrator buried the cat, then took her box
to the backyard and burn it, killing the fleas that, apparently, might be the source of the death
of the cat shows a great care for the cat. On the other hand, the fleas escaped earth and fire
which could mean that the fleas literally escape the land in the area that the fire was lit and
the fire itself, or the fleas had escaped the earth, hence, they are now dead by the cold.
These images and the abstract ideas represented by the overall scenarios add onto the idea of
it all ends in death, creating more impact and a sad and depressing mood to the poem. It
also relates to the belief of no ideas but in things in a way that theres no idea that has been
expressed directly; instead, the ideas were described through things, or in this case, through
Williams uses the image of a willow plant to expresses the idea of grief and the life
cycle of human in Willow Poem. Overall, Willow Poem is a descriptive poem in which
the state of a willow tree next to a river when winter is coming. Personification and
symbolism were used in this poem, which contradicts the Modernist style of Williams.
However, the usage of images to present abstract ideas is still prominent in this poem. The
poem starts with describing the willow that ... no leaf has fallen nor / bitten by the sun (3-
4), giving the idea that the willow was healthy, although Summer has ended. Then, the
changes of the willow were introduced as The leaves cling and grow paler, / swing and grow
paler / over the swirling waters of the river / as if loath to let go, (6-9) and adds onto the idea
that the leaves of the willow tree are the last to let go and fall / into the water and on the
ground (13-14). The changes of the willow represent the life cycle of human that eventually,
it would all end in death. The healthy willow, in which no leaf has fallen nor bitten by the
sun represent the early stages of life in which humans are young and strong. Then, the
changes, such as the fact that the leaves grow paler represents the aging of humans, whereas
humans grow older and weaker. Furthermore, it was described in the poem that the leaves of
the willow cling onto the bough, loathing to let go and is the last one to let go of its leaves,
the described image of the clinging leaves could be used as an analogy to how human
struggle to live and refuse death. Eventually, the leaves fall down into the water of the river,
like how people will eventually die off from this world. In addition, the usage of the willow
tree as a subject, in which the shape of a willow tree represents a person with grief
accentuates the idea of sadness, grief and the struggle to live. Altogether, the overall image of
within the poem accentuates that Williams has used images as the medium in order to express
abstract ideas instead of stating the ideas directly, adding onto his Modernist and accentuate
Abstract ideas could be expressed through many different types of media, one of them
is through the usage of concrete images as Williams has demonstrated in his poems: The
Desolate Field, Complete Destruction, and Willow Poem. In the poem The Desolate
Field, the idea of disillusionment, grief, alienation, and loneliness was expressed through the
image of a goat grazing in the midst of dead grass. Sadness, numbness, and death were
described through the images within the poem Complete Destruction. On the other hand,
the idea of the refusal to believe in the life cycle of human and the grief of people was
expressed in the poem Willow Poem. Although not stated directly, the presence of abstract
ideas within Williams work is prominent. This accentuates the idea that art and images are
Looking up
the infinite bleached sky
so vast,
so bright
Looking down
the infinite land
so deep,
so dark
Me
within the infinite greens
drifting around
endless search
Reflection
In my poem Infinite, I decided to mimic Williams poetic style and use the image of
nature as an inspiration and a medium to express some abstract ideas, like how Williams does
in a lot of his poems such as The Desolate Field and Willow Poem. When I wrote this
poem, I recalled a memory of mine. I was in 8th grade, when I was lost in my own mind, and
started to question my identity: who am I? what is the purpose of living? and most
importantly, what do I want to be when I grow up? I was in a camp at that time and the camp
took part in Sakaerat Environmental Research Station, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. In the
camp, I had an opportunity to let go of all thoughts and had spent a lot of time on my own,
enjoying the scenery of nature. I felt like I was just a small, small part of this huge, wide,
world. From that experience and after a while of consideration, I had realized that theres no
definite answer to who I am, and all of the so-called identity is up to us, the interpreter.
That memory is really valuable for me; hence, I had decided that I would write this poem in
In terms of literary devices to be used in this poem, I decided that there would be no
rhyme or meter in order to mimic Williams Modernist style. Moreover, I decided to use
hyphens and line breaks to create fragmentation. All of the stanzas are equal in length, all of
them being four lines long. This creates the equal importance of all of the components of the
scene, not allowing any of them to be more prominent than the other. This resembles
Williams poems such as Complete Destruction and The Red Wheelbarrow in which all
of the stanzas are equal in length and all the images within the scene are equal in importance
and prominence. Lastly, the diction within the poem is all simple, yet figurative words. I
decided to stick to simplicity in terms of word choice in order to make the poem accessible to
all and to create a definite, concrete image that would be able to carry the hidden meaning
with it. The main image within my poem is like most of Williams poems studied within this
unit, which is the image of nature. I decided to use an image of a spacious forest and use the
space within the image to convey my ideas, as demonstrated in Williams The Desolate
Field.
The choices I made for the literary devices used in the poem supports my poem in
such ways that it reinforces the idea of fragmentation, create equality of the images and make
sure that theres no image that is more prominent than the others in order to express the
abstract ideas I intended to express accurately. Furthermore, the hyphens help with separating
and clarifying the three different images I wanted to create within this poem. In addition, the
enjambment used within the poem adds onto the idea of being lost and the lack of period
accentuates the idea that there is no definite ending in finding an identity of an individual.
are so many things that surprised me and changed my perspective about him. Firstly, I was
surprised by Williams wittiness in terms of word choice. I had realized that Williams had
used simple, yet complex words in his poem. This means that sometimes, the word choice of
Williams could lead to two or more drastically different interpretation and change the overall
theme. An example of his witty word choice is from his poem Nantucket written in 1934. It
was stated in the eighth line that a key is lying... in which this line could be interpreted in
two ways: a key is merely lying, or the key is a false key. The wittiness in the word choice
adds onto the ambiguousness his poem. Next, the hidden abstract ideas within his poem are
remarkable. Williams has used images to express his ideas instead of stating it directly,
making his poem more interesting when reading over and over again. Thirdly, I think that
Williams poems are very thought-provoking. When reading once, the poem seems like it
expresses nothing, just mere images of trees and nature. However, when closely looked at
and when in focus, it seems like the poems are so much more, meaning that it could be
interpreted in many different ways and is very mind-blowing. In my own perspective, I feel
like I need to include the expression of abstract ideas while using the nature image in my
poem. I think that it is one of Williams signature, and is a new and interesting way to
express ideas. Williams has influenced me to look at things in my life in various perspective
and had taught me that theres always is more than one side/meaning of everything in our
daily lives and sometimes, theres no answer at all, it all depends on the people and their
interpretation. From doing this project and learning while having William Carlos Williams as
my mentor-writer, I had learned more about Williams style and the influences that are
hidden within his poems. I had noticed new things within Williams work such as the hidden
abstract ideas, the purpose of having a short poem, the purpose of irregular line breaks, and
the belief of not in ideas, but in things. I enjoyed every bits and piece within this unit,
especially when each and every poem were closely looked at and when the class helped each
other to interpret the poem since it allows me to learn more about others perspective and
their interpretation.