...William Carlos Williams and His Imagist Poetry Modernism and Imagism, two movements in literature ,which were developed in the 20th century .At the beginning of the decade ,modernism was a revolution of style .Crime, depression, and materialism filled this era. Musician, artists,and writers broke away from technique to create a new art.Also, imagism brought fragmental and chaotic life where nobody felt secure and happy.After that,modernism was related with decent and realistic art form.The modernist artists like Edwin Dickinson and a painter Arthur Dove looked for an object of inspiration ,individual vision and the value of immediate observation where they emphasized on surroundings around them in everyday life.Some modernists were supported by photographer and gallery owner Alfred Stieglitz who obtained the power to change the drift of American art. Moreover,art,drawing and painting were based on subjects describing actual world ideas.Also, modernism was a variety of ‘’-ism’’ such as Fauvism,Cubism,Dadaism and Futurism to break away the previous rules of orientations,color,and writing in order to their own visions. Some time after modernism,the imagist poets began to gain importance.They wrote short poems that their work would be rich and direct.They focused on individual...
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...writer William Carlos Williams widely recognized for a frugal use of lexicon stands apart as one of the most significant forces of twentieth-century poetry. A myriad of ingredients, including people, experiences, and circumstances, combined to influence Williams’ poetry and prose. Williams’ writing, along with that of many of the emerging American Modernist poets, is also considered to be a reaction to the verbose poetry and prose he had been exposed to growing up. “The ‘New Poetry,’ as it was called, was largely a revolt against the Romanticism of the previous decades” (Scott 18). In addition, Williams’ poetry was inspired by societal and cultural changes occurring during the early twentieth century. William Carlos Williams led the way into an Americanized style of poetry, diverging from the grandiloquent manner of European writers, to create a form of modernist poetry that remains as relevant today as it did when it was written. The essence of William Carlos Williams’ innovative style of writing derives from his remarkably plebian upbringing. Born in 1883 to an English father and Puerto Rican mother in Rutherford, New Jersey, Williams was exposed to art, literature, and the Bible by his family. His father and mother instilled in him a sense of idealism and moral perfectionism that terrified Williams. In 1904 Williams wrote “I never did and never will do a premeditated bad deed in my life,” (Williams Carlo Williams, Poetry Foundation). Although early on Williams’ demonstrated...
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...The “Wheelbarrow” poem from Williams Carlos Williams might intrigued the readers at first with the extreme short length of the poem, its stanzas, as well as the clarity of the language. Williams wants to celebrate the simplicity and purity surrounding everyday life. This poem is indeed only composed of four two lines stanzas with 3 words on the first line and only one word on the second line, giving the reader the time to slowly appreciate and reflect each of the words carefully chosen by the author. Each stanza also uses the enjambement technique, which highlights a single word at the end of each stanza. The author thus invites the reader to meditate and honor these four words: “upon,” “barrow”, “water” and “chickens”, which appears the pillars of the poem. This one sentence long poem adopts an simplistic and straightforward...
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...The Red Wheelbarrow so much depends upon a red wheel barrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens. -- William Carlos Williams (1923) To Paint a Picture Just as the opening line of William Carlos William’s 1923 poem “The Red Wheelbarrow” reads, “So much depends.” So much depends on the reader’s interpretation of this poem. How was the author intending his work to be read? One can argue that Williams wished his audience to paint a mental picture of the poem, and then draw their own conclusions based on the imagery contained therein. The poem, consisting of only sixteen words, follows a basic metrical structure. It consists of eight lines, which are broken into four verses. Each verse consists of a dimeter, followed by a monometer. At first reading, the student may want to read the two lines of each verse together as one. Reading the poem in this fashion does not bring attention to its individual parts. The student should focus on the lineation of the poem while reading it, and follow the metrical structure that is laid out. By slowing down and taking in the poem on line at a time, the reader will more easily be able to paint a mental picture of the poem. This seems to have been how the author intended the poem to be read. The imagery of “The Red Wheelbarrow” can be compared to that of a classic painting. The painting is easy on the eyes, nice to look at. If the viewer can picture himself inside the canvas setting, he may be able to...
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...example of a short story that includes such elements is William Carlos Williams’ “The Use of Force.” In this story, elements such as theme, background, symbolism, and image are utilized in a way to communicate the idea that there are two sides to every situation. In this short story, there appears to be an overall theme. William Carlos Williams seems to want to make the audience understand that there are usually two sides to every situation—in this case, for a little girl, a doctor’s visit is frightening and for a doctor, it is just another job. Williams demonstrated just how scared the little girl was throughout the story in many ways. In one instance, the mother reassured the little girl to not be afraid and that the doctor would not hurt her (Williams 80). In another instance, Williams writes, “As I moved my chair a little nearer suddenly with one catlike movement both her hands clawed instinctively for my eyes and she almost reached them too” (81). Williams uses the girl’s actions to further convey his message that she was frightened. It is easy to assume that a grown man having to deal with this would get frustrated. Williams chose to demonstrate the doctor’s irritation through his narration. “Look here, I said to the child, we’re going to look at your throat. You’re old enough to understand what I am saying. Will you open it now by yourself or shall we gave to open it for you” (Williams 81). William Carlos Williams used techniques such as the voice of a minor character...
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...T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, Prufrock personifies the feelings that people of that time had. Prufrock expresses the chaos and hopelessness that the people felt after the war. He is a pessimistic and unconfident man who lives in fear. Modernists sought to reflect the modern world and culture, while imagists tried to give readers a clear image of what they were trying to express in their writings. Imagists used clear and sharp language to produce images in readers’ minds. They were strongly against sentimentality, and they did not follow the traditional forms of poetry. Imagism was also strongly influenced by traditional Chinese and Japanese poetry. “The Red Wheelbarrow” by William Carlos Williams is an example of imagist poetry. In this poem, Williams manages to convey a sharp image of a red wheelbarrow that is glazed with rain, next to the white chickens. He uses this simple image to say that life depends on...
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...Imagery is very important in poetry. It is used to give the reader a visual or sense of what the author is talking about. Imagery triggers something in the brain that then gives us the ability to correlate a word with a sound, smell, feelings or even sight. Without any type of imagery, it would make it very difficult to relate with the author. Color imagery is used to trigger sight and make us visualize colors and associate it with the words either preceding or proceeding. In the two poems, “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost and “Spring and All” by William Carlos Williams, color imagery plays a big role in describing the scene. “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Browning is a poem about nature and how everything is so beautiful at first, but it then becomes subsides and isn’t as wonderful. “Nature’s first green is gold”, this could refer to the sunrise in the morning (499). This reminds me of all the gorgeous hues of a sunrise and how the sky and everything the sun hits seems golden. It could also be referring to seasonal changes. When spring is around, all the flowers and sunlight look amazing, but when the flowers start turning into leaves and falling off, it is a little upsetting to look at. “So dawn goes down to day”, this gives me the sense that Frost is talking about the early mornings (499). Watching dawn turn into day is disappointing, especially when you get to see all the natural colors coming from dawn and then it just turns into another plain day. The last line...
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...Running head: COLOR OF IMAGERY IN POEMS 1 COLOR IMAGERY IN POEMS 2 Color imagery; also known as color symbolism is a literary tool that refers to the meaning associated with a certain color. The color symbolizes a feeling or meaning. Author’s use color imagery to help the reader reference the feeling or meaning. In literature it is an object or reference used to provide meaning to the writing beyond what is essentially being described. It can be restrained or obvious, used cautiously or strong. An author may repeat the same object to communicate a deeper meaning or might use distinctions of the same object to produce a mood or feeling. Nothing Gold Can Stay, written by Robert frost in the year 1923, uses color imagery. The title of the poem is a metaphor where the gold represents value and wealth so when it says nothing gold can stay it means that nothing that is precious or of great value in the materialistic way can last forever. Gold symbolizes materialism it will not last for long and it gives an untrue happiness. Gold and other things such as, money can take years to accumulate but can be depleted in an instant. On the other hand, things having emotion and sentimental values cannot be bought with money and therefore will remain with us throughout our life. Frost says “nature’s first green is gold” he compares the color of nature “green’ with something that can be bought; gold. He is trying to portray that...
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...William Carlos Williams’ poem The Red Wheelbarrow is a very meaningful poem. Since Williams only wrote it with 16 words, it is a poem that is looked passed for its size. The way that Williams arranges those 16 words though, is the reason why it is extremely powerful. The Red Wheelbarrow is filled with images and ideas that made it very easy to visualize. After reading the poem a couple of times, my first thought was to write about perfection. The second and third lines of the poem gave me the idea that the “the red wheelbarrow glazed with rain” signifies a large amount of water. With a large amount of water, there is no need to worry about dry crops on a farm. The “white chickens” in the fourth line also portray perfection because chickens are expected to lay perfect eggs. The first line of the poem took a while to decode the images. When the poem says, “so much depends upon a red wheelbarrow” it struck me that a wheelbarrow is a very popular tool in farming. A wheelbarrow is used for transporting all sorts of things on the farm. The poem itself could also be a form of imagery. The structure of the poem and the stanzas, in my eyes, are shaped like wheelbarrows. Williams is a poet who doesn’t have to try very hard to paint a picture in somebody’s mind. My second thought about the meaning of the poem was that it was a metaphor for appreciating the little things in life. I feel as if Williams is trying to say that the little things matter in life just...
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...'The Fault In Our Stars': Love In A Time Of Cancer In his Pulitzer Prize–winning book The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, Siddhartha Mukherjee writes that as recently as the 1950s, cancer was so feared and taboo that the New York Times refused to print the word in a support-group advertisement. It was the second-leading cause of death in the United States then — just as it is now — but it was as mysterious to most people as mortality itself. There is something monstrous about a disease that kills by wanting to live; cancer's goal is to grow and prosper, with absolutely no regard for its host. It makes sense that people couldn't speak about it — it's not easy to commiserate about a nightmare. And yet, human instinct tells us to band together to fight our enemies, even on the cellular level. Gradually, with scientific breakthroughs and education, cancer became less of a mum word and more of a buzzword. Hollywood jumped on the drama surrounding the disease, and soon films like Terms of Endearment and Beaches were keeping tissue companies in business. Novels and magazine articles highlighted survivor stories; television started adding characters afflicted with illness. Even Sex and the City's carousing Samantha had her share of chemo. In recent years, the trend has gone one step beyond talking about cancer — the goal now, at least for pop culture, is to find the humor in it. Fortunately, John Green is the kind of writer to deliver it. John Green is the New...
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...Williams’ Meaning of the New World Williams Carlos Williams describes how a major event has shaped America in each chapter of In the American Grain. In each event, Williams refers to the “New World” but never clearly states what the New World is. Williams gives the readers an opportunity to stir up their imagination and decide the meaning of the New World on their own. With the knowledge received from previous chapters, it is safe to argue that the “American Grain” is the seed planted by early settlers that created the characteristics of the New World. Williams points out similar occurrences during different parts of history that originated in the “grain”. These reoccurrences are initiating from one simple word, fear. Although in most chapters Williams uses the specific words “New World”, in the chapter “Jacataqua” he only references to it by describing events that influenced what the New World developed into. “Jacataqua” is the most obvious description of the American character, which is driven by fear, leaving the “New World” to be a symbol of America’s terror. Williams quotes another source “The United States… has given more of material help to Europe and to the world in the last ten years in time of need, than have all other nations of the world put together in the entire history” (Williams 174). But Williams argues that even though America is seeking to be helpful, it is still the wealth that is the priority, and wealth is the product of fear. Because of this fear, America...
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...written by William Carlos Williams is in the form of a haiku, moreover a free verse form, which constructs an image within the reader's mind. The poet focuses on the objective representation of the substances described within his poems, which is achieved with the help of the Imagist philosophy. Imagery is known as the pattern of related comparative aspects of language, particularly of images, in a literary work. In some cases, the imagist philosophy is used with regards to meditation, as one is required to read and paint a picture, however when thought of in depth helps create a detailed picture which is different from person to person, and represents their emotions and thoughts. The first two lines of the poem set up the tone for the rest of the poem. Since the whole poem is constructed upon a sentence being broken up at multiple intervals, an in-depth analysis of each line is required, separate from the understanding of the sentence itself. When on reads the poem, it is understood that the poem is about the wheelbarrow, but similar to a form of art, it can represent an object in reality as well as a part of the art constructed within the readers mind, which gives value to the line "So much depends" upon the wheelbarrow. The second stanza brings life and color to the picture. Using the word "Red", Williams brings in bright and vivid colors to help the reader paint the picture, and on a rather philosophical term, gave way to the strongest of emotions. Williams also stretches...
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...The Tragic and the Comic It has been said that tragedy is life viewed close at hand, while comedy is life viewed at a distance. It has also been said that life is comedy to the person who thinks and tragedy to the one who feels. The chief source of the comic is the incongruous, the unexpected. We expect one thing but find another. The Parable of the Blind by William Carlos Williams (based on a painting of the same name by Pieter Brueghel the Elder) This horrible but superb painting the parable of the blind without a red in the composition shows a group of beggars leading each other diagonally downward across the canvas from one side to stumble finally into a bog where the picture and the composition ends back of which no seeing man is represented the unshaven features of the destitute with their few pitiful possessions a basin to wash in a peasant cottage is seen and a church spire the faces are raised as toward the light there is no detail extraneous to the composition one follows the others stick in hand triumphant to disaster Fundamental Types of Comedy and Tragedy Comedy of Situation – “Low Comedy” – slapstick comedy and farce Tragedy of Situation – “Low Tragedy” – the essence of melodrama; events that are exciting Comedy of Character – “High Comedy” Tragedy of Character – “High Tragedy” In low comedy and low tragedy the characters are not individuals but types. In high comedy they...
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...The Meaning of Guilt William Carlos Williams was born on September 17, 1883 and died on March 4, 1963 (Rosenthalm); he was a great American Poet. Williams was mainly associated with modernism and imagism, and he was a wonderful mentor to other young poets. Williams wrote many poems such as, “The Red Wheelbarrow,” “Spring And All,” “The Dance,” and “This Is Just to Say” (Rosenthalm). Aside from being a poet, he was also a well-known doctor where he “studied at the University Of Pennsylvania School Of Medicine” (Rosenthalm). Upon graduating from Medical School, Williams delivered over 3,000 babies. Although he was a doctor, his primary focus was on writing. After analyzing Williams’ works, one will see that within his works there are different messages and various interpretations that come along with them. His poem, “This Is Just to Say,” will show the different interpretations that one could gather from this poem, but still get the same meaning from it: guilt. This is a very simple poem. While reading “This is Just to Say,” it would appear that this poem was only about a man who ate his wife’s fruit and then proceeds to apologize for it. The fact that he was a doctor clearly shows he was a very smart and clever man to create such an easy interpretation. After reading this poem the first time and analyzing the content of it, one would assume the meaning is as simple as saying “I’m sorry,” because one knows he is in the wrong. Williams would not just write a poem about eating...
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...ENG340b Professor V. Levchev Final Paper Imagism and Symbolism: American Poets in Europe The key aspects discussed in this paper are American Imagists in Europe in the beginning and the middle of 20th century. However, everything has its roots and its beginnings. The same way imagism movement initially developed from symbolism, very popular literary movement of the end of 19th century, which influenced most of the imagist poets. Symbolism was an art movement originated in France, Belgium and Russia in the end of the 19th century, which remained prominent almost until the end of the World War II. This movement was a reaction to the predominating at that time standards and rules of realism. It appeared as a new manifestation of the romanticism and was concerned about preserving individualism in the modern world, absorbed by the mass culture.1 Usually being enclosed in free verse, symbolism was about expression of author’s personal emotions. It handled very composite feelings that appeared from the everyday life in the world and was rather about evoking than about describing. It used an object, person, colour or just a word in order to represent or describe something else. It was used when an author wanted to create some specific mood or any given emotion in his piece.2 Being tired of realism, Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot, introduced symbolism to the America. Nevertheless, Pound was looking for something else, for something new in his poetry and, along with some...
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