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Sample Poetry and Analysis of Williams' Work

 

Tract Poem 

I will teach you my townspeople
how to perform a funeral--
for you have it over a troop
of artists--
unless one should scour the world--
you have the ground sense necessary.
 
See! the hearse leads.
I begin with a design for a hearse.
For Christ's sake not black--
nor white either--and not polished!
Let it be weathered--like a farm wagon--
with gilt wheels (this could be
applied fresh at small expense)
or no wheels at all:
a rough dray to drag over the ground.
 
Knock the glass out!
My God--glass, my townspeople!
For what purpose? Is it for the dead
to look out or for us to see
how well he is housed or to see
the flowers or the lack of them--
or what?
To keep the rain and snow from him?
He will have a heavier rain soon:
pebbles and dirt and what not.
Let there be no glass--
and no upholstery, phew!
and no little brass rollers
and small easy wheels on the bottom--
my townspeople what are you thinking of?
 
A rough plain hearse then
with gilt wheels and no top at all.
On this the coffin lies
by its own weight.
 
                       No wreaths please--
especially no hot house flowers.
Some common memento is better,
something he prized and is known by:
his old clothes--a few books perhaps--
God knows what! You realize
how we are about these things
my townspeople--
something will be found--anything
even flowers if he had come to that.
So much for the hearse.
 
For heaven's sake though see to the driver!
Take off the silk hat! In fact
that's no place at all for him--
up there unceremoniously
dragging our friend out to his own dignity!
Bring him down--bring him down!
Low and inconspicuous! I'd not have him ride
on the wagon at all--damn him--
the undertaker's understrapper!
Let him hold the reins
and walk at the side
and inconspicuously too!
 
Then briefly as to yourselves:
Walk behind--as they do in France,
seventh class, or if you ride
Hell take curtains! Go with some show
of inconvenience; sit openly--
to the weather as to grief.
Or do you think you can shut grief in?
What--from us? We who have perhaps 
nothing to lose? Share with us
share with us--it will be money
in your pockets.
 
                         Go now
I think you are ready.

 

 

Analytical Paragraph
The poem Tract, by William Carlos Williams represents Imagery.  Tract is about what a funeral should be performed like.  Williams explains how the flowers should be set, where the funeral should be, the design for the hearse, where to sit and how to act.  The details Williams gives in his poetry shows the image perfectly.  Williams describes the flowers and replacements precisely.  He says, “No wreaths please-- especially no hot house flowers. Some common memento is better, something he prized and is known by: his old clothes--a few books perhaps-- God knows what! You realize how we are about these things my townspeople-- something will be found--anything even flowers if he had come to that. So much for the hearse.” In this section, you can see in your mind that there are no hot flowers and to replace them with some of the man’s old clothes or anything belonging to him.  The imagery is shining, and any person could see how Williams would approach and make a funeral. 

To a Poor Old Woman Poem

 
munching a plum on 
the street a paper bag
of them in her hand
 
They taste good to her
They taste good 
to her. They taste
good to her
 
You can see it by
the way she gives herself
to the one half
sucked out in her hand
 
Comforted
a solace of ripe plums
seeming to fill the air
They taste good to her

 

Analytical Paragraph

The Poor Old Woman, by William Carlos Williams, represents symbolism.  The poem is about an old woman on the street eating a plum.  Although there is not much said about this old woman and the plum, the symbolism takes action immediately in this poem.  As it starts off, it only says that she is eating a plum.  But as the poem proceeds, Williams takes the concept of the woman eating a plum into a question.  Why is this lady so wholesome, eating such a wonderful plum? What does this woman represent by eating a plum? Well, this woman represents how not everyone has the chance to always get what they want, and how some people are lucky to get a delicious plum and be able to eat it so happily.  Williams repeats this line in the poem many times, “They taste good to her They taste good to her. They taste good to her.”  This is an example of symbolism because it symbolizes that not everyone can always get what they want, and the little things do count.