Saturday, August 30, 2014

Poem of the Day: "The Hurricane" by William Carlos Williams, Poet of the Month

The Songs of Eretz Poem of the Day for August 30, 2014 is "The Hurricane" (1944) by William Carlos Williams, Poet of the Month.  The poem was taken from Williams' Collected Poems:  1939 - 1962, Volume II.  The text of the poem may be found here:  http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/hurricane.  A brief biography of Williams and references may be found here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-songs-of-eretz-poet-of-month-for.html.

"The Hurricane" is a short poem, consisting of only six lines (including the title), and having a word count of only twenty-one (including the title).  There is a rather severe use of enjambment throughout, but no obvious use of Williams' signature variable foot.  Some of Williams' early influence by the Imagists may be seen, as the first two lines form a crisp, simple, common image.  The remainder of the poem is rather enigmatic, and it is unclear in the conversation between garage and tree as to who is urging whom to go to heaven.

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