Napasorn Thepchanakul

Matthew Bishop

1202

October 3, 2017

Objective Truth within Williams Poetry

According to Plautus, One eye-witness weighs more than ten hearsays Seeing is

believing all the world over. Inevitably, many people have to hear this quote before, but why

they still believe in what the other people say? This because they did not prove nor see that it

is true. William Carlos Williams is a Modernist and Imagist poet, who focuses on everyday

life. He also believes in what people can actually see rather than the ideas that people cannot

touch. Therefore, he expressed this idea through his writing. The poems of William Carlos

Williams value objects to demonstrate that truth depends on what we can see.

William Carlos Williams reinforces the idea of we cannot trust what we cannot see

through an abstract emotion such as love in The Desolate Field. This poem was written in

1921, which is two years after WWI. In the poem, the narrators perspective to sky is

different to the other people because while the others see the similar sky, he feels

hopelessness through the sky. He then questions himself about his existence, and thinks that

love is untouchable and looking toward him. In the text it says, my head is in the air / but

who am I? / And amazed my heart leaps / at the thought of love / vast and gray / yearning

silently over me (8-13). From the quote, Williams uses an abstract emotion, which is love

that refers to some force greater than the narrator, and this is probably god. Obviously, no one

can prove that god exists even him, so he wonders who is responsible for his lifes meaning?

In addition, love is yearning silently, which means love cannot be heard nor seen. That is

why he does not believe in love. In contrast, he only sees just grey sky and barren field;

consequently, he only captures his despair. Williams also expresses that we should create our
own lifes direction because we cannot depend on the abstract feelings and beliefs. Therefore,

an abstract emotion in this poem is expressed to support the Williams concept: should not

believe until it is proved to be existent.

Williams elaborates his term, No ideas but in things, through ordinary

circumstances in The Red Wheelbarrow. In this poem, Williams uses simple language to

describe the situation, and creates balanced syntax by having four equal stanzas with no

punctuation to show the connection between objects. In the text it says, so much depends /

upon / a red wheel / barrow / glazed with rain / water / beside the white / chickens (1-8).

Williams is a rational person, so he expresses common objects in this poem including red

wheelbarrow, rainwater, and white chickens. In the quote, the words that should stay together

are divided into different lines. The word wheel is separated from the barrow and rain

is separated from water as an example. These because Williams wants the words flow

together, and he also wants to value objects that people can perceive. Furthermore, so much

depends upon the ordinary circumstances, but what depends on them? This could be ideas,

life, or truth. Thus, it is obvious that Williams uses common circumstances to detail the

concept of No ideas but in things in this poem.

Obviously, Williams shows the idea of believing in what we know that it exists by

placing importance on objects through his poems. He writes abstract emotion in The

Desolate Field to support that we cannot believe in nonexistence, and writes everyday

circumstances in The Red Wheelbarrow to present the concept of objects are better than

words.
When I Was Five

black
car at the garage
silver
key in his hand
white
tears on my face

I called him:
Daddy, Daddy
Daddy!
He smiled
and gazed at me
before the car
started to move
Reflection

I decided to bring an event from my childhood experience because it means a lot to me.
When I was younger, I had many memorable experiences; however, I decided to write about
this situation because it is a great memory that I never forget.

When I was five, it is my day off from school, but not my father from work. It was in the
morning that I was woken up by my babysitter, and I heard the sound of water, falling to the
floor from my parents room. After that, I was going down to the first floor to have a
breakfast. While I was eating, the sound of footsteps is gradually louder and louder. I turned
to look at that the origin of the sound. My father stared at me, and said goodbye to me. At
that moment, I knew immediately that he needed to go to work now. Therefore, I tried to
catch him up, but it failed. He closed the wire door before I went there. Because I was young,
I could not open it by myself, and my babysitter did not open it for me. That is why this poem
was created.

According to my poem, in my point of view, I saw the black car, parked at the garage. I also
noticed a car key in my fathers hand, so I knew that he was going to go outside now. That is
why I was crying. It was the childs moment that I saw my beloved father was going out, and
I could not do anything. As a result, I decided to call my father in case he changed his mind
to stay with me. I saw he turned back and smiled, making me feel better. Suddenly, he
walked back, and started his car before the car was moving.

In When I was Five, I used an adjective, which is a color to show my purpose that this is
the most memorable moment for me. It presents the importance of this moment by showing
that I can remember all the details of the objects. Moreover, I also break the poem in two
stanzas. The first stanza is about my thought, and what I actually see to show that I never
forget this feeling. In the second stanza, I represent the real situation and my action that I did
to emphasize the importance of the situation.

As I noticed from Williams writing style, I tried to use simple language in my poem, and
also use objects to represent his idea of No ideas but in things such as black car, silver
key, and white tears. In my first stanza, I learned his style in The Red Wheelbarrow,
which I break the words between adjective and noun. In my second stanza, I learned his style
from Danse Russe and Complete Destruction. First of all, I represent the words that the
narrator says in my poem same as Williams represent the words that the narrator sings in
Danse Russe. In addition, in the last four lines, I present the unexpected situation as he did
in Complete Destruction. In the text of When I was Five says, He smiled / and gazed at
me (10-11), which means he will probably stay with me, but he still goes outside.
Furthermore, I like his style in To a Poor Old Women that he uses a title as the first line of
the poem. Thus, in my poem, I think I should include this technique. The most important is
he uses his experience in writing poems. This is another technique that I have Williams as a
mentor. Last but not least, I just notice that most of his poems are grammatically correct.