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Literary Analysis Of 'The Widow's Lamnt In Springtime'

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William Carlos Williams was from Rutherford, New Jersey, born in 1883. By trade, he was both a doctor and writer. Williams published poetry, novels, and essays in small magazines. Williams started as an imagist movement poet, “which emphasized simplicity, clarity of expression, and precision through the use of exacting visual images” (poets.org). He later began to write more about the life of everyday people. His poem, “The Widow’s Lament in Springtime” follows this writing style.
The poem “The Widow’s Lament in Springtime” is a poem about a women who has lost her husband of thirty five years. Williams writes in the voice of a grieving woman instead of in his own voice. Now that her husband has died, the widow cannot find joy in her yard that she used to love. The widow may even be considering suicide. Williams, writing in free verse, writes a metaphor comparing the grief of a widow to her blooming yard in the springtime setting a tone of great sadness for the widow.
The title itself gives us important clues about this poem. From the beginning before even reading the first line of the poem, we know that it will be a sad story. The widow being someone who has experienced a loss and lament is a word used for passionate grief and sorrow. Springtime is a time of growth and rebirth, the affirming of new life. Williams’ title may lead us to believe that the widow is in the early stages of life without her husband and the early stages of grief. This may be her first spring without her husband. She is exploring the overwhelming feelings of grief over losing her husband, comparing her grief to the new life or blooming of her yard. The widow begins by telling us “Sorrow is my own yard” (Reed). She, the widow is comparing the sorrow and grief that she feels with her yard. She takes ownership of her pain in the phrase “my own”. Springtime is usually a time of renewal and growth, but for the widow it is a time of sorrow and pain, deep sadness because her husband is not there with her this year. The new growth of her yard just “closes round me this year”. Something that is closing around you may make you feel trapped, or uncomfortable. This year her yard brings her feeling of pain. The widow’s

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