Mnasnan Se-amorntham (Nancy) 1204

On Danse Russe

In Williamss poem, Danse Russe, he uses If to represent the condition that happen

only in the poem. In the text, a man is thinking about what he wants to do if his wife, his child,

and a nanny are sleeping. He wishes that he could dance naked, wave his shirt around in the air

in front of the mirror, and sing softly to himself in his north room. He thinks about doing all this,

and that it will make him feel wonderful, but they do not happen, so he does not feel wonderful.

As demonstrated when the author describes his perspective, saying, If I when my wife / is

sleeping / and the baby and Kathleen / are sleeping...if I in my north room / dance naked,

grotesquely / before my mirror / waving my shirt round my head / and singing softly to

myself:...Who shall say I am not / the happy genius of my household? (1-19). This quote

demonstrates that he thinks he would be the happy genius of his household if his family and

the nanny are sleeping in the morning and he is dancing naked in front of the mirror and singing

a song in his north room, which is his working room. The word If emphasizes that none of

events are happening. His family and the nanny are not asleep and He is not dancing naked in his

working room. With this, he is not yet the happy genius of his household. Hence, Williamss

uses If to affirm that the condition in the poem is happening only in the narrator's imagination

not in reality. The narrators desire is not happening yet.