Guest Author - Jordan McCollum

The Uses of Poetry
by William Carlos Williams

I've fond anticipation of a day
O'erfilled with pure diversion presently,
For I must read a lady poesy
The while we glide by many a leafy bay,

Hid deep in rushes, where at random play
The glossy black winged May-flies, or whence flee
Hush-throated nestlings in alarm,
Whom we have idly frighted with our boat's long sway.

For, lest o'ersaddened by such woes as spring
To rural peace from our meek onward trend,
What else more fit? We'll draw the latch-string

And close the door of sense; then satiate wend,
On poesy's transforming giant wing,
To worlds afar whose fruits all anguish mend.

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In this poem, William Carlos Williams looks at the function that poetry plays in our lives. He doesn't talk about a perfect metrical pattern or an inventive rhyme. He doesn't mention an amazing metaphor or a stunning simile.

Poetry is most remarkable in the life of the speaker for its "transforming giant wing," its ability to "all anguish mend." The "poesy," like the boat ride in the poem, is a "pure diversion." Just as the speaker and his lady will hide in the rushes, they will seek to hide themselves from the world as they escape through "the door of sense" through poetry.

Escaping from "such woes as spring" is just one function that poetry may serve. The "transforming giant wing" of poetry can also grant its readers an entire sensory or emotional experience. These "worlds afar" conveyed in so few words can sometimes impact us, the readers, more quickly and more deeply than the world around us does.

How does poetry evoke these effects? Through careful workmanship and editing, and the conventions of poetry, including figurative language, sound, line, meter, and rhyme. While we, like the speaker of this poem, may not notice these conventions, sometimes it is the act of keeping—or suddenly breaking—these conventions that creates the most powerful effect of all.

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Read The Collected Poems of William Carlos Williams to learn more about this great poet's works.