Spring and All by William Carlos Williams

Spring and All

by William Carlos Williams

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

Williams was one of the foremost poets of American modernism.  In this poem on nature, Williams personifies the spring that is entering the world naked and uncertain. The most striking element of this poem, the title poem of Williams' first major collection, is the imagery. Williams manages to paint complex scenes with few words such as "broad, muddy fields brown with dried weeds." Williams makes it easy for the reader to see the world through his eyes.