Poets | Members | Poem of the Day | Top 40 | Search | Comments | Privacy
November 22nd, 2009 - we have 234 poets, 8,023 poems and 17,904 comments.
William Carlos Williams - Spring And All

By the road to the contagious hospital
under the surge of the blue
mottled clouds driven from the
northeast—a cold wind. Beyond, the
waste of broad, muddy fields
brown with dried weeds, standing and fallen

patches of standing water
the scattering of tall trees

All along the road the reddish
purplish, forked, upstanding, twiggy
stuff of bushes and small trees
with dead, brown leaves under them
leafless vines—

Lifeless in appearance, sluggish
dazed spring approaches—

They enter the new world naked,
cold, uncertain of all
save that they enter. All about them
the cold, familiar wind—

Now the grass, tomorrow
the stiff curl of wildcarrot leaf

One by one objects are defined—
It quickens: clarity, outline of leaf

But now the stark dignity of
entrance—Still, the profound change
has come upon them: rooted they
grip down and begin to awaken

Added: on December 9th, 2005 at 8:19 PM | Viewed: 27197 times | Comments and analysis of Spring And All by William Carlos Williams Comments (5)


Spring And All - Comments and Information

Poet: William Carlos Williams (William Carlos Williams Art)
Poem: Spring And All

Comment 5 of 5, added on May 3rd, 2007 at 2:15 AM.

Spring And All is a progressive awakening from the dead of winter, transitioning into the life of spring.

D from United States
Comment 4 of 5, added on January 27th, 2007 at 4:46 PM.

This poem used to seem like just another meditation on spring, and, like Justin, I used to think it was not as concrete or powerful as some of Williams' best. However, I just read an essay in American Poetry Review that explains how this poem (and the volume it was written as part of) was a response to T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land - affirming the power, beauty and rejuvenating quality of the natural world in contrast to Eliot's bleak, despairing vision. I think it needs to be read in context, not just in the context of a resonse to Eliot, but in the context of the collection "Spring and All."

Ed from United States
Comment 3 of 5, added on December 9th, 2005 at 8:19 PM.

"Spring and All" remains very nebulous in comparisson to other Williams poems. His use of "-ish" and "-y" as suffixes weakens the power of his words. The imagery does little to clarify. Maybe winter lacks clarity. The dreariness of winter leads to a profound clarity in the brigtness of spring.

Justin from United States

Are you looking for more information on this poem? Perhaps you are trying to analyze it? The poem, Spring And All, has received 5 comments. Click here to read them, and perhaps post a comment of your own. Of course you can also always discuss poems by William Carlos Williams with others on the American Poems poetry forum!

Poem Info

Williams Info
Copyright © 2000-2009 Gunnar Bengtsson. All Rights Reserved. Links | Bookstore