Pitchanun Choonhanirunrit

Matthew Bishop
1206
October 3, 2017
Desperation and Relaxation in Nantucket and The Desolate Field

Poem is a form of art where poets often express their thought through it. From the quote,

Poetry is a matter of life, not just a matter of language(Clifton, n.d.), it explains that poem is not

just words describing events, but poems are art that often include motto which reflect real life

situation. In this essay, it will focus on William Carlos Williams works. Williams was the

Americans doctor and writer during the early nineteenth century. Before late nineteenth century,

every poet conform on the traditional style of poetry. Williams was one of the major modernist and

imagist of the poetry movement. He broke the norm and initiative to write common and free verse

poem. In the Desolate Field and Nantucket, Williams uses both natural imagery and physical

objects to express emotions such as loneliness, satisfaction, and alienation.

On The Desolate Field and Nantucket, Williams uses colours to reveal the narrators

emotion. As a poet, Williams often uses colors to create the sense of emotions through physical

objects, nature, and setting. For example, in Complaint, he displays the characters emotion

through the tone of setting. By the use of background components such as frozen road and past

midnight the visual of misery are created. In contrast, on The Desolate Field, Williams writes,

Vast and gray, the sky(1) and In the tall, dried grasses(5), detailing the narrators feeling

through the used of natural colors. From the first quote, as the narrator imagine he is observing the

environment when he has time with himself, Williams depicts sky as gloomy and endless which

emphasize dark colors. By using this technique instead of directly describe the narrator feeling in

the poem, the sense of isolation appear. The second quote demonstrates the color of dried grasses to

show the sear life of the narrator from finding the truth meaning of love. This creates a sense of

alienation since the color of dry grasses can make people feel dispirit. Based on similar idea, in

Nantucket, Williams capturing emotion through objects. Williams writes, Flowers through the
window/ lavender and yellow(1-2), detailing flowers colours. In this place, lavender in the

second sentence does not mean the type of flower but refer to purple or violet. By using yellow and

purple colors, a sense of relaxation is created because both colors are warm colors which are easy

on eyes. Another example, in the text it says, changed by white curtains(3) and immaculate

white bed(10). By describing white curtain and bed, Williams establishes the sense of relief as

white often refer to purity and cleanliness. Besides, the word immaculate underlines the relaxing

emotion since it supports the white color of the bed where people spent time to rest.

In Nantucket, Williams uses inactive objects reveal the sense of calmness. Nantucket is

an island in Massachusetts, America. It is a famous island in the Atlantic ocean where travellers

often visit for their for their vacation. In this poem, Williams describes the details of the hotel room

in Nantucket. For example, when the author describes the objects, it says, On the glass tray/ a glass

pitcher, the tumbler/ turned down, by which/ a key is lying And the/ immaculate white

bed(6-10). Through the use of motionless of glass tray, glass pitcher, tumbler, and key, Williams

establishes the sense of relaxation. As stillness can refer to harmless since there are no effects or

problems occur. Besides, all objects are arranged in the ways and position that they should be.

Williams also expands the idea of relief through the existence of one tumbler because when

people stay alone they will have time with themselves. Normally, there should have two tumblers

present in the hotel room. Moreover, in the last line, the author link backs to the bed which it sets

still to claim the sense of calm and act as a breathing space for people.

In both poems, Williams applies the technique of common materials and nature to display

the mood of the poems. In The Desolate Field and Nantucket, Williams uses colors to pass the

feeling of the narrator. In addition, Williams manipulates stationary stuff in Nantucket to show

the emotion. Finally, Williams poetry presents that art can reflect peoples sensation.
The First Met

It is sunny day
where the sun shining
brightly on the sky

The white fence open

and I walk in
seeing

Tail shaking
so I bent down to hold
he up and stretching my arms

when he
sticking tongue out
he sticking tongue out
Reflection:

In this poem, I used William Carlos Williams as my mentor and imitate his poetry style. I used my
past memory of receiving my first chihuahua dog to write this poem. Thus, this is base on my true
experience when I was young. I wrote this poem in first point of view by using me as a narrator.
This situation is really mean to me. The main reasons for writing this poem is to express my
happiness emotion when I first met a little black with golden hands dog and to elevate animals such
as dog for being more recognise since we often ignore other species other than us. Hence, the
techniques that I used to describe the poem are inspired by Williams.

This event happen around 4 year ago when I went to chihuahua farm with my mother and my twin
brother. This farm located on Thawi Watthana district, Bangkok. This is my first time to meet with
this dog. On that day, I see it and hit it off immediately. The event in that day change my thought
forever. Also, in my life, I never raise any animal other than fish.

In The first met, I express my feeling of excitement and pleasure through the setting and object in
the poem. According to the first stanza, in the setting, I used colors of the sun and sky to display my
delightful feeling when I first saw the dog. The word choices that I used are sunny day, shining,
and brightly. Moreover, in the second stanza, I used the color of concrete object to show my
emotion which in this place is the word white fence. As you can see, this technique one of the
technique that Williams often used in his poem.

As I said before that I never raise dog. At first, like the majority of the people, I thought that dog is
just a dog. It is just a pet that human rear. However, after I living and spending time with it, I realise
that dog is like human that have feeling. We should not look down on dog and other animals.
Therefore, I used some technique in the poem to elevate the value of dog. In the poem, I used word
choices such as bent down, and up to support the idea. When the narrator bent and hold the dog
up it refer to uplifting dog as worthy of appreciation. Moreover, the used of stretching arms create
the equality between human and dog since both of their eyes are in the same level. Furthermore, I
wrote the poem in equal stanza and called dog as he to represent equality.

In the last stanza, I used To a Poor Old Woman as a reference to represent joviality by repeating
the sentence. When dog open the mouth and put it tongue out, it seems like the dog is smile. In
addition, by breaking the line on when he/sticking tongue out, it emphasis that the dog is smile.

As I learned Williams through out this unit, Williams surprised me by wrote simple poem, but
reflect many things such as emotions, equality, and the power of nature. During study Williams
poetry, I enjoy This Is Just to Say poem the most. This is because I like the idea when the narrator
saying sorry but he not truthfully feel it. It is common situation that we all once experienced. As I
mentioned before, I used setting, objects, word choices, line break, and equal stanza to express my
emotion and to create the sense of sameness. All of this techniques are influenced during when I
studied William Carlos Williams poems. When I read Complaint, and To a Poor Old Woman,
Williams praised the old woman that doesnt beautiful. Thus, I want to write a poem about
overlooked animals. Before studied Williams poetry styles, I never thought that objects, setting, and
nature can reflect peoples emotion. Also, I never notice that the used of enjambment, end-stopped,
and rhyme can create the motion in poem.