Spring Storm

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1921

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Background

Literary Context

Williams is associated with two of the key literary movements of the early 20th century: Imagism and Modernism. Williams’s poem “The Red Wheelbarrow” (see: Further Reading & Resources) is considered the quintessential example of Imagism, which was the first major Modernist movement in the English language. Imagists were proponents of simple, direct language and precise imagery. While Imagism involves a certain return to classical poetic philosophies, it also champions the use of free verse, which Williams uses consistently in his poetry. Imagism also calls for, as much as possible, focus on single images—following the assumption that intense focus on a single subject will reveal its inner essence. Imagism was inspired by visual artistic movements of the time, including Cubism. Williams was one of the more known Imagists, alongside his friends H.D. and Ezra Pound; however, for Williams Imagism became more of a jumping off point for his American-styled verse and his own poetic invention: the variable foot (see: Authorial Context). As a Modernist poet, Williams’s work is also representative of the principles of Modernism. Literary Modernism focused on newness and the redefinition of traditional poetic values. Often, Modernist poetry commented upon the dramatic changes taking place in the 20th century.

Authorial Context

Besides his association with Modernism and Imagism, William Carlos Williams is known for coining the phrase, “no ideas but in things,” which elucidated upon the core tenet of Imagism. Even after divorcing himself from the Imagism movement, Williams continued to focus primarily on the essence of images and directness of language. One of his inventions, on display in “Spring Storm,” is the variable foot, a type of rhythm-based system of lineation in which each line functions as an individual unit of sound. In much of Williams’s poetry, each line is meant to be read in a single breath, imitating the spoken sound of American English. In “Spring Storm,” this creates a sense of impending change by giving lines varying lengths of phrase. Shorter lines call for more pauses in reading, which tends to elongate the rhythm of the poem. Williams’s variable foot inspired much of the structural and rhythmic focus of later generations of poets, including the beat poets Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Jack Kerouac, and the Black Mountain poets. Although the variable foot is considered a move away from traditional poetic metrical systems, the rhythm of a poem that uses variable foot is fixed, meaning that each line has a pre-set rhythm determined by line length.