16 pages • 32 minutes read
William Carlos WilliamsA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
“Spring Storm” is a stichic poem, which means it is made of a series of lines of the same approximate lengths. The poem is 17 lines and consists of a single stanza. As a poet who championed literary Modernism and the concept of a simple, direct American verse, Williams’s poetry is written almost exclusively in Free Verse. Poems written in Free Verse eschew the strict rhyme schemes, metrical rhythms, and specific structural patterns of classical poetry. “Spring Storm” focuses more on the image and the capturing of a specific moment in time than it does on any specific structural or metrical systems. Williams created something called the “variable foot,” which is considered a post-metrical approach to prosody. “Variable foot,” simply put, involves the step-down-line and considers each line equal to one single unit of breath. Essentially, each line of “Spring Storm” should be read in a single breath, with a slight pause after each line. This type of system is loose and works well within an otherwise free verse poem. Williams’s “variable foot” is meant to recreate the sense and cadence of American English.
By William Carlos Williams
Approach of Winter
William Carlos Williams
Between Walls
William Carlos Williams
In the American Grain
William Carlos Williams
Landscape with the Fall of Icarus
William Carlos Williams
Paterson
William Carlos Williams
Spring and All
William Carlos Williams
The Red Wheelbarrow
William Carlos Williams
The Young Housewife
William Carlos Williams
This Is Just to Say
William Carlos Williams
To Elsie
William Carlos Williams
To Waken An Old Lady
William Carlos Williams