Karis Katekovit

Mr. Bishop
English 1202
28 September 2017

Abstractions proven wrong with William C. Williams

William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), a well-known poet within the modernist

literature, he first began writing poetry when he was in Horace Mann High School. It was

that time when he had decided to become both a doctor and a writer. Throughout his life,

Williams writing was influenced by Ezra Pound, which he befriend when he was in the

University of Pennsylvania. Ezras writings were very supporting the traditional cultures in

Europe, and Williamss disagreement accumulates as time went by. He desires to make an

innovative poetic writing, called modernism, whose subjects are concentrated on everyday

circumstances, the common people lives, and rejected traditional poetrys point of view, such

as, emotions, beliefs, or whatever that is an abstract idea. Additionally, the writing style of a

modernist literally is based on the global modernity, how the world has changed with science

and technology, myths and tales that are proven wrong through the evidence of scientific

researches. Within his poems, The Desolate Field, and The Red Wheelbarrow, Williams

conveys how reality is proven only through the matters we perceive.

With Williams attention on reality and evidence to prove the existence of things, he

wrote a poem called, The Desolate Field. He mentioned that a goat was searching the

ground, while he, Williams, was looking up to the sky, into the emptiness. He lastly queries

his purpose in life, and the proof of greater force, god, beliefs, etc. In the poem he writes,

Vast and gray, the sky/ is a simulacrum/ to all but him whose days/ are vast and gray, and

(1-4). Basically, he is contrasting his point of view with others in the beginning lines.

Williams also mentioned, a goat stirs /with nozzle searching the ground. / my head is in

the air. He then leaves a question, but who am I? (9). Finally, he said, And amazed my

heart leaps/ at the thought of love/ vast and gray/ yearning silently over me. (10-14). In the

first few lines, he said that the sky was an effigy to everyone; their days were fine, but his
Karis Katekovit
Mr. Bishop
English 1202
28 September 2017
days werent. As he looks up into the sky he noticed that he is looking at emptiness,

examining for nothing same as the goat searching the ground which, reflects the people who

havent realized that god, common beliefs, were an illusion, because the goat is still uselessly

searching for nothing. In contrast, the narrator does notice that theres nothing up there other

than gray skies, just as theres nothing in the ground. He is questioning that is love a force

that is greater than him, god, spirits, things we cannot touch, so he tells us, was it all real?

These abstract things cant be proven, because there is no existence of it, god never made us,

god was never there in the first place. Therefore, if there were no god, Williams questions,

then who am I? What was Gods purpose?

In the same way, The Red Wheelbarrow shows Williams statement of existence

is the evidence of truth. Every bit of the poem shows the proof of existence. In the poem, he

writes, so much depends/ upon/ a red wheel/ barrow/ glazed with rain/ water/ beside the

white/ chickens (1-8). This is the whole poem, and instantaneously we can see that this

poem is fairly simple. The first question that will mostly come to mind is that what depends

so much upon the chicken, rain, and wheelbarrow? The answer is simple, the simplicity that

we perceive in the poem is indicating the reality, the truth, concrete objects that can be

experienced. The objects that we perceive are basically the truth, evidence, and facts.

The information given above indicates that no ideas can be surely proven without

evidence, or no ideas but in things like Williams once said. His ideology concerning

abstractions verifies nothing and has made lasting influence on the literary community.

Because, as we search into the sky we find emptiness not goddess, as we search into the

ground, however, nothing could be found, the only thing we can surely tell that exists is the

red wheelbarrow glazed with rain beside the white chicken. If it wasnt for the objects we

touch, see, hear, etc., then what else could be an indication that it is a fact for real?
Karis Katekovit
Mr. Bishop
English 1202
28 September 2017

Regrets

I have played
computer games
when I was
a child

which I have been

told not to
but read books
said my parents

Forgive me
it was so great
so entertaining
unstoppable, but

future depends
upon

a great big
number

and infinite
contest

determining
ones life
Karis Katekovit
Mr. Bishop
English 1202
28 September 2017
Reflection:

In this unit, we studied about literary analysis and had a poet, William Carlos
Williams, as our mentor and had to write a pastiche poem. I used his poetry style to tell a
story of a student with more clarity, and also to make it simple. This poem is based upon the
experiences that I have been through throughout my entire life, probably a common lifestyle
of Thai teenagers. I used some parts of Williams poem and inserted it in my poem, also
using his poem structure, line breaks, stanzas, to demonstrate the details of the message that I
am trying to point out. The poems I mimicked are The Red Wheelbarrow, and This Is Just
To Say.

As a child, generally, a child loves playing anything that is entertaining to them. For
example, computer games, a deck of cards, board games, etc. These are the entertainments
that most children put their hands on, and just couldnt get enough of it, which I was one of
them. I played without limits, not caring about everything mainly but games. It is very
common for a child to be addicted to games because they are so amusing at the time. You can
always restart the game limitlessly when you lose a game. In addition, every child that are
addicted to these entertainment will eventually come upon the most clich sentence from
their guardian which is, stop playing and read some books. It is the most boring and
annoying statement of every parent, yet we children dont know what it might bring. We
apologize and said that we would decrease the playtime and read books more. Of course, as a
child I rarely regret the things I have done, playing games. I dont see it causing any bad
consequences, so the apologies I have made was just to say. Therefore, I chose the poem,
This Is Just To Say to depict the sorry without regrets more clearly.

Later on in my life, there have been many obstacles as I grew up; the biggest of them
all is decision. A decision of which faculty in the university I want to pursue in? What
university should I attend? Can I enroll there? Do I meet the requirements?
And as a child, I wasnt aware of it until there was 1 year left. I was unprepared for
university. There are so many books I need to read that are piling up. I wasted my time on
somewhat that is useless; consequentially, I am now nearly at the edge of a cliff, going to fall.
I regret all what I have done that wasnt useful. I regret myself so much that occasionally I
would have too much to do and ending up with nothing finished. I have just realized that time
is such an essential element of my life, and it has been with me all along. Time waits for no
one, which is the reality of this world, so I represented it as a great big number that is
always counting. In the same way, The Red Wheelbarrow shows what we perceive is what
depends; it is the truth we see. Therefore, I used it to emphasize that as we grow we see the
reality more clearly.