Category Archives: Spring and All

TWENTY-NINE: INTO THE FLOWER’S BLACK EYE (page 93)

Posted on April 30, 2023 by Mark Kerstetter

Williams ends Spring and All with a poem containing only one mark of punctuation, a poem that seems to round from the last word back to the first, while many of the individual words call back to words we’ve already … Continue reading →

Posted in Spring and All | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

TWENTY-EIGHT: A DANCE WITHOUT MUSIC (pages 90-93)

Posted on April 29, 2023 by Mark Kerstetter

Williams mentions Shakespeare throughout the prose sections of Spring and All in the context of the conversation on art as its own reality rather than a “mirror” up to reality, and also against Anatole France’s idea that art is a … Continue reading →

Posted in Spring and All | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

TWENTY-SEVEN: A COMMON ROOT (pages 87-90)

Posted on April 28, 2023 by Mark Kerstetter

Williams told Thirlwall that in poem XXV he was “studying a presentation of the language as it actually is used” and suggest he compare it to the 1930 poem, “April”. Both of these poems remind me of Kenneth Fearing—poem XXV … Continue reading →

Posted in Spring and All | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

TWENTY-SIX: A POEM IS A MACHINE OF WORDS (pages 82-86)

Posted on April 27, 2023 by Mark Kerstetter

In this, the penultimate prose section of Spring and All, Williams continues the theme of the differences between prose and poetry. And somewhat surprisingly he tells us meter has nothing to do with it. Nothing. Prose can be rhythmical, poetry … Continue reading →

Posted in Spring and All | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

TWENTY-FIVE: EXCURSUS: THE CAVE OF LES TROIS FRERES

Posted on April 26, 2023 by Mark Kerstetter

Prehistoric Painting: Lascaux or The Birth of Art published by Skira in 1955 is the first art book devoted to the Lascaux caves, and it is surely one of the most beautiful art books ever published, in every sense. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Spring and All | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

TWENTY-FOUR: A GREAT RAILWAY JUNCTION (pages 79-82)

Posted on April 25, 2023 by Mark Kerstetter

There follow two poems before Williams gets back to the theme of prose vs. poetry. Poem XXIII reads Romantic to me, a little bit like a throwback. Plus there’s a lot of personification. We know that Keats was an early … Continue reading →

Posted in Spring and All | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

TWENTY-THREE: THERE IS NO CONFUSION, ONLY DIFFICULTIES (pages 75-78)

Posted on April 24, 2023 by Mark Kerstetter

In the prose section following the red wheelbarrow poem Williams’ technique of leaving sentences incomplete appears to invite the reader to finish the thought or follow through the progression of the idea. Here, as I read them, are the basic … Continue reading →

Posted in Spring and All | Tagged , | 4 Comments

TWENTY-TWO: EXCURSUS: SO MUCH DEPENDS

Posted on April 23, 2023 by Mark Kerstetter

We may live to see the day when we recall that everything changed at the beginning of 2023. Some of us may even pin it down to a specific day—say the day they read that article about a work created … Continue reading →

Posted in Spring and All | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

TWENTY-ONE: A RED WHEELBARROW (page 74)

Posted on April 22, 2023 by Mark Kerstetter

so much depends upon a red wheel barrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens That’s it. Poem XXII, the red wheelbarrow that launched a thousand ships. For the hell of it I went to YouTube and barely skimmed … Continue reading →

Posted in Spring and All | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

TWENTY: A GYPSY SMILES (pages 71-74)

Posted on April 21, 2023 by Mark Kerstetter

Four poems follow. I keep repeating that these poems are weird, strange, odd, and no two quite the same. Spring and All should be read as a book if for no other reason than to see some of the famous … Continue reading →

Posted in Spring and All | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments