William Carlos Williams' Poetr

Williams’ poem The Dead Baby is a good example of his general writing style and technique. It is a simple, four-stanza poem that serves as a commentary on a certain aspect of society. The poem’s title makes clear the theme of the piece, even though it is not as much about the actual baby as it is the effect the dead baby has had. The poem centers on the parents

Portrait of a Lady is a much more sensual poem than The Dead Baby; the wording and rhythms used are more fluid and poetic. There are more examples of figurative language in Portrait of a Lady than in The Dead Baby as well, giving it a more whimsical appeal as opposed to that of the stark blatantness of the other poem. But despite their differences, both poems exhibit attributes of the modernist style that William Carlos Williams was a part of.

of the dead baby and how they are dealing with what has happened. In the first stanza, the line, “Sweep under the table and the bed... the baby is dead” shows that they are trying to remove the remainders of death; by ‘sweeping under the table and bed’ they are symbolically cleansing themselves of the terrible thing that has occurred.

Here we can see that the mother is obviously mourning for her loss, while the father is more than likely in denial. They are no longer a comfort even to each o

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