Yesterday I shared Dickinson’s “There’s been a Death, in the Opposite House,” a deliciously eerie poem if you enjoy a taste of the macabre.
One reader’s comment on a blog I ran across as I explored this poem said, “It also reminds me a little of William Carlos Williams' wonderful poem ‘Tract.’" I was not familiar with that poem, so I looked it up, HERE.
Of course, the first thing I noticed before even reading the poem was the tract of space running throughout the length of the work. Was that purposeful or some odd formatting problem on the Poetry Foundation’s site?
I found the work on another site, and the poem did not have all of that white space, HERE.
Hmm...upon further exploration of the poem, though, I found out that the blank space was, indeed, done deliberately by WCW.
Interestingly, Dickinson’s poem, “There’s been a Death, in the Opposite House,” also includes some deliberate spacing – you can see it on the pic of her manuscript below. Dickinson purposely isolated the twentieth line of the poem to great (and eerie) effect, “There’ll be that Dark Parade.”
Of course, the first thing I noticed before even reading the poem was the tract of space running throughout the length of the work. Was that purposeful or some odd formatting problem on the Poetry Foundation’s site?
I found the work on another site, and the poem did not have all of that white space, HERE.
Hmm...upon further exploration of the poem, though, I found out that the blank space was, indeed, done deliberately by WCW.
Interestingly, Dickinson’s poem, “There’s been a Death, in the Opposite House,” also includes some deliberate spacing – you can see it on the pic of her manuscript below. Dickinson purposely isolated the twentieth line of the poem to great (and eerie) effect, “There’ll be that Dark Parade.”
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Surprisingly – though on second thought, not at all surprising – this intentional arrangement of lines was “corrected” by Mabel Loomis Todd when she first edited and published the poem in 1896. Form and standard conventions were very important to late 19th century readers, hence Todd’s emendation.
Back to Williams’ “Tract”: His is a multi-layered poem, literally about funeral practices on the surface; however, beneath the surface, Williams’ funeral primer conceals a condemnatory statement on how poets of the day approached poetry. I found this:
“The poem ‘Tract’ by William Carlos Williams, on the surface, is a criticism of an ostentatious funeral. However, the poem does have a strong hidden message. ‘Tract’ could very well be a direct criticism of Dylan Thomas’ ‘Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night’ and any other poem like it. In his poem, William Carlos Williams criticizes poets like Thomas for using too many stylistic formalities, thereby obscuring their poetry’s true literal content.”
For information on Williams’ philosophy on poetics, I found this essay, “The Poem as a Field of Action,” which includes this:
“Williams argues that “our poems are not subtly enough made, the structure, the staid manner of the poem cannot let our feelings through.”
The link is HERE.
Just FYI: I was a bit confused, though, because the essay is “By William Carlos Williams,” but it also says, “Originally Published: October 13, 2009” – and WCW died in 1963. I’ve emailed the Poetry Foundation to clear this up.
Tomorrow: Another comment I found about Dickinson’s “There’s been a Death, in the Opposite House,” called to mind a different poem, one by Robert Frost. I’ll share that in my next post.
“The poem ‘Tract’ by William Carlos Williams, on the surface, is a criticism of an ostentatious funeral. However, the poem does have a strong hidden message. ‘Tract’ could very well be a direct criticism of Dylan Thomas’ ‘Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night’ and any other poem like it. In his poem, William Carlos Williams criticizes poets like Thomas for using too many stylistic formalities, thereby obscuring their poetry’s true literal content.”
For information on Williams’ philosophy on poetics, I found this essay, “The Poem as a Field of Action,” which includes this:
“Williams argues that “our poems are not subtly enough made, the structure, the staid manner of the poem cannot let our feelings through.”
The link is HERE.
Just FYI: I was a bit confused, though, because the essay is “By William Carlos Williams,” but it also says, “Originally Published: October 13, 2009” – and WCW died in 1963. I’ve emailed the Poetry Foundation to clear this up.
Tomorrow: Another comment I found about Dickinson’s “There’s been a Death, in the Opposite House,” called to mind a different poem, one by Robert Frost. I’ll share that in my next post.
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