celebrity writers

September Poet - William Carlos Williams

Poetry as a Transforming Power

Sep 8, 2008

Physician/Poet William Carlos Williams delightfully dramatizes the transforming power of poetry in his innovative Petrarchan (Italian) sonnet.

William Carlos Williams was born September 17, 1883, in Rutherford, New Jersey.

Even though the title is deceptive in that it sounds like an essay title, Williams' “The Uses of Poetry” is a well-crafted Petrarchan sonnet, with the rime scheme ABBA ABCA DED EDE. The poem sections the octave and sestet into two stanzas each, which give the sonnet an innovative flavor.

First Quatrain of Octave: “I've fond anticipation of a day”

The speaker of “The Uses of Poetry” begins by telling his listener that he is looking forward to reading poetry to a lady. The speaker “anticipates” that on the day he intends to read to the lady that day will be filled with “pure diversion”—nothing serious or troubling is expected to happen that day. It will be day filled with wine and roses, that is, pure romance.

As he reads his “poesy” to the lady, they will be boat riding on a lake, and they will “glide by many a leafy bay”—immersed in nature, where the trees are full of leaves that inspire by the purified romance of the poetry.

Second Quatrain of Octave: “Hid deep in rushes, where at random play”

As the speaker continues to dramatize his description, he asserts that they will be “hid deep in rushes.” Their boat will float to a part of the river where the water weeds will hide them as they enjoy the sweet murmurs of the poetry.

They will delight at the “glossy black winged May-flies” and the “hush-throated nestlings” that they will rouse with the boat’s movements through the water. The birds and flies will fly away, not molesting the poetry drenched couple but merely charming them with their natural scurry.

First Tercet: “For, lest o'ersaddened by such woes as spring”

Moving to the sestet of the Italian sonnet, the speaker then turns from description of the physical setting of the boat ride to the mental place where all poetry should lead. He avers that they will not be bothered by the actual physical “woes” that a real boat ride would bring about. Those gnats in reality would not be charming nor delightful.

Scaring birds to flight could be a downright unpleasant experience as well. And any number of hazards could “spring / To rural peace from our meek onward trend.” So to eliminate such unhandy events, they will eliminate sense-awareness in favor of superior mental awareness.

Second Tercet: “And close the door of sense; then satiate wend”

They will “close the door of sense” and climb on “poesy’s transforming giant wing, / To worlds afar whose fruits all anguish mend.” The speaker says that unlike the aggravations of the natural world, the world of poetry brings satisfactions “whose fruits all anguish mend.” The annoyances of the natural world are obliterated by the superior transforming power of the poetry world.