Spring And All By William Carlos Williams Read poem then have a classmate reread the poem *chosen beforehand* Thesis: William Carlos Williams contrasts the winter and springtime imagery with the cycle of life; birth (springtime) and death (wintertime).

Interpretation First sentence Second and third stanza “contagious hospital” Home life: Doctor at hospital Second and third stanza Very bleak and negative “patches” and “the scattering” Things are unorganized in winter “Lifeless in appearance” You cannot see spring enter “sluggish dazed” Spring slowly makes its presence Spring slowly makes its presence but when it is here is it very obvious

Interpretation (cont.) Fifth and sixth stanza “new world naked” Could be referring to something beyond the real world Could be referring to the beginning of spring Could be referring to new plants emerging from the ground “one by one objects are defined” Everything becomes more clear and less boring at the beginning of spring Seventh Stanza “stark dignity” Highly respected “Rooted, they grip down and begin to awaken” Referring to plants/flowers Could also be referring to a newborn child Newborn child as they grow through infantry to childhood and begin to “grip” the ground crawling and then standup and begin walking

Interpretation (cont.) Overall interpretation The poem is about the transition from winter to spring This concept can be connected to “all” things Winter being death and spring being the beginning of life “all” is quoted from the title

Sense Written from the point of view of the writer Third Person Mood/Tone: depressed then changes to enthusiastic “…sluggish dazed spring approaches-” Diction “Contagious” and “Hospital” & “standing” and “fallen” Contradictions “The scattering of tall trees” Could be fallen or standing Themes: Nature Death vs. life You normally do not want a contagious person in a hospital Nature = spring/winter

Sense Diction/imagery/image patterns: Repetition: Tone: changes Use of color: “blue” “brown” “reddish” “purplish” Plants: “weeds” “leafs” “leafless vines” ”grass” “rooted” “wildcarrot” “trees” Repetition: “cold” repeated 3x “standing” repeated 2x “wind” repeated 2x “one” repeated 2x “cold wind” repeated 3x Tone: changes The repetition of the word one is not significant because it is repeated within the phrase one by one meaning things are happening one at a time Thus this means that the emergence of spring happens very very slowly and every little change can be noticed

Purpose and Effect Sudden change in mood is to show how mood can change quickly Mood changes from depressing at first to joyful toward the end Color words are used to emphasize how lack of color can make things look “lifeless” Words are repeated to help incorporate the feeling of the winter-to-spring change Humans mood can change quickly during the day.

Senses Wintertime imagery “broad, muddy fields” “dried weeds” “cold wind” “forked, upstanding, twiggy stuff of bushes and small trees with dead, brown leaves under them leafless vines” Symbolizes how everything is dead in the winter End of winter time when the snow is melting and the air is warming up – not in the middle of winter when everything is frozen solid

Senses Springtime imagery Birth Color imagery “grass” “rooted they grip down and begin to awaken” Birth “enter the new world naked, cold, uncertain of all” “cold, familiar wind” Color imagery Use of color: “blue” “brown” “reddish” “purplish” “-ish” = things are uncertain in winter

Why these image patterns? Contrast the bleak winter with the joyful springtime Comparing the emergence of springtime with the birth of a newborn Allows the reader to make connections easier

Style Metaphor/personification Juxtaposition “they enter the new world naked, cold” New plants are being compared to the birth of a new child “the profound change has come upon them:” Could be referring to a newborn child or new plants Juxtaposition Springtime - Wintertime Children can grip down to the ground and begin crawling, then walking just as plants start off as a seed, then create roots, then a stem and then flower Purpose: continues to emphasize how joyful the change from winter to spirngcan be; just as joyful as

Structure Enjambment set certain lines apart from each other “patches of standing water the scattering of trees” … 6 line stanza  2 line stanza  5 line stanza … Williams does not break apart the first stanza First sentence is about commuting to work Second half is describing the scenery Purpose: to provide high contrast between spring and winter He could have driven, ridden a bike, flown, walked, or taken a blimp to work that day

Structure End stopped Poem is lacking punctuation throughout Some lines ended with hyphens when there is a significant change in the story When spring “approaches” Poem is lacking punctuation throughout Ending Discussion Question: How does using no punctuation for the last line cause the poem to end ambiguously? (What does it make the reader think about? What does it mean?) The ending of all places in a poem is where you would expect the sentence to end Question can be discussed with group, No ending punctuation for the last line could mean that WCW is connecting this poem to the afterlife When a human dies, some believe that they continue to live in the afterlife

Sound Rhythm Rhyme Repetition Lines 2,3 – 7,8 – 9,11 – 10,12 ect. “reddish”, “purplish” “leafless”, “lifeless” Rhyming to show how winter lacks emotion and is very uncertain Repetition “One by one” Similar line lengths create a rhythm while reading Rhythm helps the reader know when there is a drastic change in the poem; similar to tone/mood/

Other Works By WCW Most of his poems incorporate imagery Mostly springtime imagery Incorporates nature/outdoors into his poems The widow’s lament in Springtime The Bitter World of Spring

Do this, or else On the packet or separate sheet of paper (if you have the book), give each stanza of Spring and All an emotion. Do this quickly. Do this as a group and discuss it Here’s some ideas to get you started: Anger Fear Disgust Calm/Contempt Joyful/Happy Sadness Surprised Take about 4 or 5 minutes depending on the time to give their stanzas emotions

Do this, or else Why is WCW’s poetry so hard to find emotion? Imagist – poet who uses common language to express very clear image throughout a poem WCW does not want to look at the sentimental value of things He would rather look at the image Thus, his poems will lack emotion, or make it harder to find.