Chananan Sanamchai

Matthew Bishop

1202

October 3, 2017

Simplicity and Concreteness

William Carlos Williams has always been known as one of the foremost poets of the

Modernist. Williams was born on September 17, 1883 in Rutherford, New Jersey. He was

both a writer and a doctor. He was an American poet associated with Modernism and

Imagism. Williams wanted to break from the old style of writing poem and invent new style.

Thus, his poems focus on everyday circumstances and peoples normal life, which are the

style of a Modernist. Most of Williamss poem is easy to understand because the style of the

Modernist is to use simple language and concrete images. In The Red Wheelbarrow and

This Is Just to Say, Williams uses clear images and common circumstances to appreciate

simplicity and commonplace.

Williamss poem The Red Wheelbarrow uses concrete images to embraces and

extends his well-known dictum: no ideas but in things. Williamss famous term, no ideas

but in things, is a line from his poem, Paterson, that was written in 1927. Almost all of

Williamss poems focus on concrete objects more than abstract concepts or ideas. His poem,

The Red Wheelbarrow, is considered one of the best example of the Imagists style and his

dictum no ideas but in things is like a summary of their principles. In the second stanza of

this poem, it says, a red wheel / barrow (3-4). As he values actual objects and clear images

rather than abstract ideas, in this part of the poem, he mentions a wheelbarrow which is an

object that is commonly seen. When an object is mention in the poem, it creates a clear idea
and image in peoples mind. On the other hand, abstract words or ideas do not create a clear

image in peoples mind which mean that what create image in our mind is concrete object,

like the wheelbarrow. When people read the word wheelbarrow in this poem, the image

that will come to the mind is the image of the wheelbarrow and nothing else. The mention

of an object like the wheelbarrow can creates a clear image and idea of the object and show

the meaning of that object in the poem. Thus, like Williamss dictum, there is no ideas but in

things and only what is simple has value.

Through a situation of eating another persons plum, This Is Just to Say expresses

Williamss values in using everyday circumstances. As a modernist poet, Williams usually

wrote a poem about situation that happen in everyday life, not some extraordinary events. His

style in writing a poem is a break from the old style and European culture and traditions. In

this poem, the narrator has eaten the plum that another person might save it for breakfast. At

the beginning of the poem, it says, I have eaten / the plums / that were in / the ice box (1-4)

and it continues and says, and which / you were probably / saving / for breakfast (5-8). This

poem was written like it was just a note that the narrator put it on a table in a kitchen after he

ate the plums. This poem captures a very ordinary situation that one person just eat the

plums of another person without permission. Unlike old style of poem, that usually has deep

meaning and hard to understand, this poem does not has any deep meaning. This poem is

written to say the exact meaning as it says in the poem. There is no deep meaning to analyze

at all and the point of this poem is really just to say. Even though it is so ordinary that it

looks like a note left behind more than a poem, Williams believes that this situation is worth

to write as a poem as he values commonplace circumstances.

As a Modernist, Williams shows that he values what is simple and common by using

concrete images and ordinary scene in The Red Wheelbarrow and This Is Just to Say. In

one of his most famous and well-known poem, The Red Wheelbarrow, Williams uses
simple and concrete image like the wheelbarrow to extend his principle, no ideas but in

things. This principle is like a principle of the Modernist as they believe that only concrete

objects can give a clear image or idea in peoples mind. In This Is Just to Say, Williams

wrote this poem like it is just a note, that left for another person, in the kitchen. This situation

in this poem is what happen in daily life and it is an ordinary situation. There is nothing

special about this situation but as Williams values everyday circumstances, this situation is

what he believe that is worth enough to write as a poem. Therefore, by using simple and

concrete object, along with normal circumstances, Williams shows that he values simplicity

and commonplace.

Addicted

Sitting on a chair in my room

trying to finish my work
that is nor nearly done
I try to focus
then I saw my novel
that was left on the shelf
Fighting the temptation
not to grab the book
but finally I lose
I start to read
and keep telling myself
to read only one chapter
but that is not possible
One chapter
Two chapters
Three chapters
It is not possible for me
to stop reading
I finished the novel
and start working again
At the end
what this novel gave me
was two hours of sleep

Reflection:

William Carlos Williams is a Modernist poet so I decided to write a poem that uses
simple and concrete word and talk about the situation that is normal and can happen in
everyday life. I wrote this poem by using my own experiences and the situation in the poem
is what happen to me in my real life. I wrote this poem in first person to show that this is the
situation that come from my real life. I chose to write about this situation because I wanted to
contrast between what I have to do and what I want to do. Also, I want to show my passion
toward book and how it affect me in my everyday life.
My parents love to read so they usually took me to the book store a lot and they also
find a book for me to read since I was a kid. I think that there reason why I love reading. I
love to read since I was a kid and the type of book that I usually read are comics and novels.
Actually, I can read different types of book but one type that I don not like to read is
academic books. That is why in this poem, I show that sometimes, I want to read novel
instead of doing my work. One of the big problem of me reading books is that I cannot stop
reading when I start to read. Sometimes, I finish the whole book in a few hours because I did
not take a break at all and this happen to me since I was young.
The poem is about me and about what happen when I have to work but I want to do
what I like instead. What happen in the poem is usually happen to me every time that I have
work to do. When I have a work, I try to focus on my work so that I can finish it fast but I
will usually distract buy books. The only to stop myself for getting distracting, is to sit in the
place without my books. If I want to finish my work, I cannot sit in my room because there
are too many books which can distract me all the time. In this poem, I try to show that I
cannot stop when I start reading through the lines where it says One chapters / Two chapters
/ Three chapters (14-16). In this part of the poem, what I want to express is that even though
I told myself to read only one chapter and stop, I just continue to read the next chapter and go
on and on. This is also the reason why I chose Addicted to be the name of my poem.
Even though I really like to read more than doing my work, I still know that wasting
my work time on reading books is not a good idea at all. If I spend most of the time reading
novels and comics, I cannot finish my work on time. Even though I can finish my work on
time, but it cause me to stay up late and do not get enough sleep at night. This is really
happen to me many times in my life. Sometimes, I was so caught up with the book and I have
to finish my work at night instead which give me no time to sleep. I also try to show this
point in the poem so at the very last part of the poem, I wrote At the end / what this novel
gave me / was two hours of sleep (21-23).
As I have Williams as the mentor, I chose to write about everyday circumstance
because that was his style. I wrote this poem using very simple word like Williams did in
most of his poem. This poem does not has any deep meaning at all. This poem just give the
exact meaning as it says in the pome. By doing this project, I feel like I can understand poetry
better and realize that to write a poem, I do not have to use difficult word or a rhyme at all.
Doing this project gave me a new idea of poetry that even if I use a simple word without deep
meaning, it can still be a poem. Also, I am not usually a person who like to write a poem
about myself so by writing this poem, I can really see myself reflected in the poem.