If when my wife is sleeping
and the baby and Kathleen
are sleeping
and the sun is a flame-white disc
in silken mists
above shining trees,—
if I in my north room
dance naked, grotesquely
before my mirror
waving my shirt round my head
and singing softly to myself:
“I am lonely, lonely,
I was born to be lonely,
I am best so!”
If I admire my arms, my face,
my shoulders, flanks, buttocks
against the yellow drawn shades,—

Who shall say I am not
the happy genius of my household?

Analysis, meaning and summary of William Carlos Williams's poem Danse Russe

3 Comments

  1. billy madigan says:

    WCW knows what I know: dancing alone is a sign of genius! To let oneself be as a child, before a mirror. looking at and feeling oneself, free, silly – genius!!!

  2. lamya says:

    i really liked the poem it is ful of many lessons it expresses a lot things we have just to read it and reread it carefully to analyse every word in this poem

  3. Cat says:

    this poem is very humorous! will rocks.

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