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Peter Balakian contends that Modernist poetry neglects the domestic,
the personal, and the family-historical. Do you agree?

Modernism is defined as A style or movement in the arts that aims to

depart from classical and traditional forms. 1 In terms of literature, this involves a
deviation from traditional literary models and as a result, modernist poetry can
become an unusual and experimental form. This experimentalism is identified by
Balakian as he argues that Modernist poetry neglects three important aspects of
human life. This essay will demonstrate that Balakians statements are too vague
and unspecific because Modernism is a movement which has many strands. This
essay will therefore examine the poems of William Carlos Williams, who
combines aspects of Realism with his Modernist poetry, and demonstrates a
strong connection with ordinary life, and thus the concepts Balakian claims that
Modernism abandons. This essay will also explore Balakians claims in relation to
H.Ds Imagist poetry, which is a strand of Modernism that is perhaps more
disconnected with the domestic, personal and family spheres.
William Carlos Willliams Danse Russe is a poem that refutes Balakians
claims that Modernist poetry neglects the domestic, the personal and the familyhistorical. In fact, this poem fully engages with domestic, personal and family
life of the voice. The poem begins with a clear allusion to the voices domestic
and family situation. He acknowledges his sleeping 2 wife, nanny and baby, so
instantly identifies himself as a married family man who takes precautions to
1 Imagist n1, Oxford English Dictionary, ed. By James Murray and others, 1st edn
(Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1884-1928)

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ensure that his child and household receive appropriate maintenance by
employing a nanny. However, Williams indicates that he feels isolated in his
home, and the repetition of and3 when he lists the other inhabitants of his
house, suggests that he perhaps feels outnumbered by the strong female
presence at home. Therefore, from the poems initial stages, Williams already
engages with the domestic sphere by suggesting that his domestic life has an
overwhelming effect on him. In Barry Ahearns work on Williams alterity in his
poetry, Williams must content himself with a performance contained not only
within the walls of his house, but limited to the confines of a single room. Even
his family is left in the dark.4 Williams vivid descriptions of the sun being a
flame-white disc5 indicate that he has woken up at dawn before his family and
is revelling in his brief moment of solitude. Ahearn also talks of the restrictions
of social, familial and physical constraint. 6 From line 8 onwards, Williams
subverts these restrictions when he says If I in my North room/dance naked,
grotesquely/before my mirror.7 In these lines Williams feels that he must deviate
2 William Carlos Williams, Danse Russe, The New Anthology of American Poetry:
Volume 2, Modernisms 1900-1950, (New Brunswick; New Jersey; London: Rutgers
University Press, 2005) p.224
3 Williams, Danse Russe
4 Barry Ahearn, William Carlos Williams and Alterity: The Early Poetry,
(Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1994) p.30
5 Williams, Danse Russe
6 Ahearn, William Carlos Williams and Alterity: The Early Poetry, p.30
7 Williams, Danse Russe

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from the expected conventions of a man to incessantly remain composed and
dignified, and the word grotesquely is used in a positive context because it
suggests that he is defying boundaries with his wild, passionate dancing and
therefore liberating himself from the expectations of society. Towards the poems
climax, the voice sings I was born to be lonely,/ I am best so! 8 Williams is not
physically alone because he has a house and a family, but perhaps feels lonely in
the sense that there are no men for him to identify himself with in his household.
Williams also seems to feel confined to the conventional narrative of masculinity
where a man is expected to resolutely provide for his family and sustain his
household with an air of composure and fortitude. However, Williams attitude
undergoes a shift in the poems final few lines because he begins to embrace the
life and persona that he has been given. In Stephen Tyremans article on poetic
journeys into health and illness, he describes Williams position as a paradoxical
tension between the negative feeling of loneliness and the positive perception
that this is how it should be and where he is best. This existential experience
enables the poet to know himself and, despite his imperfections, to feel
comfortable with himself.9 In other words, the negative feelings produced by his
loneliness allow Williams to feel a sense of being and a realisation of his true
identity. One would assume that at this point, Williams is a man past his physical

8 Ibid
9 Steven Tyreman, The Happy Genius of my Household: Phenomenological and
Poetic Journeys into Health and Illness, Medicine, Healthcare and Philosophy, 3,
14, (Rotterdam, Spring Netherlands, 2009) pp.301-311, p.308

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prime at this point, but regardless, he embraces his imperfect physique when he
says I admire my arms, my face,/my shoulders, flanks, buttocks. 10 In order to
consolidate this positive self-perception, Williams brings the poem full circle
when he refers to himself as the happy genius of my household?. 11 A genius is
defined by the OED as the tutelary god or attendant spirit allotted to every
person at birth12 where tutelary is defined as Having the position of protector,
guardian or patron.13 The voice therefore succeeds in asserting his personal
masculinity by still taking on the role of provider and protector of his household
despite not conforming to conventional notions of manhood. This poem therefore
takes Bakatin to task regarding his contentions, because Williams actually
engages with the domestic in a complex way. Williams explores the relationship
between the domestic sphere and the personal sphere, and also suggests that
societal conventions can intrude on the domestic environment and cause an
individual to feel pressured to conform to traditional gender roles. Williams
illustrates that this can be detrimental to ones personal wellbeing, and his
solution to this is to assert his own unique masculine identity by recklessly
dancing in front of the mirror, and releasing the part of himself that is suffocated
by societys demands.
10 Williams, Danse Russe
11 Williams, Danse Russe
12 Genius n1, Oxford English Dictionary, ed. By James Murray and others, 1st edn
(Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1884-1928)
13 Tutelage n1, Oxford English dictionary

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Williams The Young Housewife also engages with the domestic and
family historical as it explores themes such as constriction and patriarchy within
the household, as well as female sexuality. The first stanza is dense with
allusions to the idea that this woman is under the authority of her husband. In
contrast to the voice in Danse Russe who finds his sense of identity, the woman
is introduced as the young housewife 14 which immediately robs her of a name,
and the only identity she has is that of being bound to somebody by marriage.
This notion is reinforced in lines two and three as the poetic voice depicts how
she moves about in negligee behind/ the wooden walls of her husbands
house.15 The phrase husbands house16 underlines the fact that she has no
ownership of her place of residence, and its almost as if shes imprisoned her
husbands wooden walls.
Moving about in negligee17 also hints at her sexuality, because he makes her
negligee a state of being rather than just the garments she is wearing. This idea
is reinforced by the enjambment between lines 3 and 4, which reflects the sense
of fluidity between the housewife and her attire. The revealing nature of her
clothes could point to her supressed sexuality due to being under the dominion
14 William Carlos Williams, The Young Housewife, The New Anthology of
American Poetry: Volume 2, Modernisms 1900-1950, (New Brunswick; New
Jersey; London: Rutgers University Press, 2005) p.220
15 Williams, The Young Housewife
16 Ibid
17 Ibid

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of her husband. This poem engages with the personal and the domestic because
Williams draws attention to the patriarchal hierarchies that dominate most
households, and the sense of entrapment that women can feel. The second
stanza reinforces these ideas of constriction as the woman comes to the curb/to
call the ice-man, fish-man18 which suggests that she is still confined to the
premises of her husbands house. From the third line of stanza two, the poem
begins to carry sexual undertones and our perceptions of the housewife change
as she stands/shy, uncorseted, tucking in/stray ends of hair. 19 By coming to the
curb dressed so revealingly, the woman is pushing the boundaries imposed onto
her by the husband. Williams juxtaposes the words shy, uncorseted 20 and
suggests that she is behaving provocatively and is aware of what she is doing,
but is simultaneously pretending to act innocent. The enjambment between lines
three and four reflect her seductive behaviour, because the reader immediately
wants to know what she is tucking in. 21 Although she only tucks in stray ends of
her hair, the way Williams reveals this entices the readers so they eagerly
anticipate the next line. The voice then compares her to a fallen leaf 22 in the
second stanzas final line. According to Lynn Keller and Cristanne Millers work on

18 Ibid
19 Ibid
20 Williams, The Young Housewife
21 Ibid
22 Ibid

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feminist soundings in poetry, this comparison resounds with the late-nineteenth
and early twentieth-century comparisons of marriage to parasitism and
prostitution [] And the fallen leaf metaphor of use and loss is also [] a link of
woman to nature, fatalistic in implication.23 This resonation with parasitism and
prostitution is tenuously hinted at in this poem, as the woman appears to be
under the oppression of her husband, and we can speculate that she is obliged to
reciprocate his financial stability with sexual favours. The notion of use and
loss24 is more sharply explored in this line because comparing her to a fallen leaf
suggests she is fragile and vulnerable, which is reinforced by the soft f sounds.
The poem ends on a bleak note, where the noiseless wheels of my car/rush with
a crackling sound over/dried leaves.25 Returning to the feminist work of Keller
and Miller, this stanza proposes the fate of that one leaf in an implacable image
of destruction.26 When this is linked to the previous stanzas comparison of the
housewife to a leaf, the definitive destruction of the leaves at the poems
conclusion highlights the patriarchy that dominated the institution of marriage,
and the idea that women will always be subjugated by male power. Keller and
Miller also express condemnation at the enigmatic smile he offers at the end:
rueful pleasure, condescension, [] power masked by politeness, a predictive
23 Lynn Keller, Cristanne Miller, Feminist Measures: Soundings in Poetry and
Theory, (Michigan, Michigan University Press, 1994) p.73
24 Ibid
25 Williams, The Young Housewife
26 Keller, Miller, Feminist Measures: Soundings in Poetry and Theory, p.73

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knowledge of her fate.27 This is too cynical a view on the poetic voice and thus
Williams, because he clearly expresses sympathy for her ordeal with the fallen
leaf comparison. Although he does perhaps show a predictive knowledge of her
fate28 it is more through compassion for her situation rather than condescension.
The fact that he bows and passes smiling 29 suggests that he wishes her well,
but simultaneously knows that it would be indecent to intrude too much on
somebody elses domestic sphere. This poem therefore refutes Bakatins
contentions because the poetic voice tries to engage with the young housewifes
domestic situation, and he acknowledges her lack of personal identity. He
explores the domestic by showing awareness of patriarchy within the household,
and engages with the personal by acknowledging the housewifes need to
compensate for her lack of autonomy by seeking attention and behaving in a
sexually suggestive way.
Despite Williams engagement with domesticity and the personal, some of
H.Ds imagist poetry supports Balakians contention that Modernist poetry
neglects the domestic. This is because poems that come under this strand of
Modernism often create a fantastic and hyperbolic world that fails to engage with
everyday life. Oread begins with the main character giving a direct command to

27 Ibid. p.74
28 Ibid. p.74
29 Williams, The Young Housewife

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the sea by telling it to whirl up.30 So from the poems first three words, Doolitle
creates a fictitious scenario where the sea is attributed with a consciousness.
The Oread then uses peculiar language to describe the sea, as she commands it
to splash your great pines. 31 In this line, Doolittle goes one step further than
saying the sea is like the forest; instead she uses the word pines to describe the
sea in terms of the forest to suggest that they are one entity. She continues this
in line five as she commands the sea to hurl your green over us. 32 This poem
metaphorically calls for the sea to exceed its tidal boundaries and merge with
the land, which suggests that Doolittle is requesting unity between man and sea.
However, when this poem is faced up to Balakians contentions, it does not
engage with the domestic sphere, nor the family historic. However, it tenuously
engages with the personal because it focuses on the Oreads own consciousness
and experiences of the natural world, and these experiences are transferred to
the reader through vivid imagery. At face value, this poem neglects the domestic
sphere through its setting. A seashore is in no way related to the home
environment, and it also incorporates a mythical character that wouldnt exist in
reality. Although this poem encourages a closer relationship between man and
nature, none of these ideas can be transferred to the domestic sphere. According

30 H.D, The Oread, The New Anthology of American Poetry: Volume 2,

Modernisms 1900-1950, (New Brunswick; New Jersey; London: Rutgers University
Press, 2005) p.309
31 H.D, The Oread
32 Ibid

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to Richard Hoffpauir, this poem may present a subjective sensation but it is
uninteresting and nave.33 This may stem from the fact that it fails to connect
with the plights and events within everyday life, and as a result it would be
difficult for it to resonate with most readers.
In conclusion, this essay demonstrates that Balakians contentions cannot
be applied to the Modernism in its entirety. Williams incorporates Realist
elements into his poetry and therefore engage with the domestic, personal and
family historic. This is evident in Danse Russe because the poetic voice
illuminates the links between the domestic and personal spheres through his
struggles with his masculine position in the household, and the responsibilities
that come with this. However by coming to terms with his position, he embraces
his identity and reaches a state of personal enlightenment. Williams also applies
these Realist elements to The Young Housewife as he explores the patriarchy
imposed on women within the marriage sphere; a key component of the
domestic. However, H.Ds imagist poetry is more aligned with Balakians
assessments of Modernism. The Oread in particular explores more abstract
themes than Williams, as Doolittle creates an imaginary world with fantastical
characters and elements. As a result, this poem is far removed from notions of
domesticity or the family and doesnt lend itself to everyday life. This essay has

33 Richard Hoffpauir, The Art of Restraint: English Poetry from Hardy to Larkin (Delaware,
University of Delaware Press, 1991) p.18

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therefore shown that Balakians statements can only be applied to some areas of
Modernist poetry.

Bibliography
Primary
H.D, The Oread, The New Anthology of American Poetry: Volume 2, Modernisms
1900-1950, (New Brunswick; New Jersey; London: Rutgers University Press, 2005)
p.309
William Carlos Williams, Danse Russe, The New Anthology of American Poetry:
Volume 2, Modernisms 1900-1950, (New Brunswick; New Jersey; London: Rutgers
University Press, 2005) p.224

Secondary

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Ahearn, Barry William Carlos Williams and Alterity: The Early Poetry, (Cambridge,
Cambridge University Press, 1994)
Richard Hoffpauir, The Art of Restraint: English Poetry from Hardy to Larkin
(Delaware, University of Delaware Press, 1991)
Keller, Lynn, Miller, Cristanne, Feminist Measures: Soundings in Poetry and
Theory, (Michigan, Michigan University Press, 1994) p.73
Genius n1, Imagist n1, Tutelage n1, Oxford English Dictionary, ed. By James
Murray and others, 1st edn (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1884-1928)
Steven Tyreman, The Happy Genius of my Household: Phenomenological and
Poetic Journeys into Health and Illness, Medicine, Healthcare and Philosophy, 3,
14, (Rotterdam, Spring Netherlands, 2009) pp.301-311