summary Spring and All This poem describes a scene by a roadside on William Carlos Williams a cold, muddy, windy spring day. The poem describes budding plants entering the world By the road to the contagious hospital1 uncertainly but then taking root firmly. under the surge of the blue mottled clouds driven from the northeast—a cold wind. Beyond, the 5 waste of broad, muddy fields brown with dried weeds, standing and fallen

patches of standing water the scattering of tall trees

All along the road the reddish 10 purplish, forked, upstanding, twiggy LITERARY ANALYSIS stuff of bushes and small trees with dead, brown leaves under them d imagism leafless vines— d d IMAGISM Identify the colors named Possible answer: The colors named are blue, Lifeless in appearance, sluggish2 in lines 1–13. What aspect brown, and “reddish purplish.” These colors of spring is emphasized 15 dazed spring approaches— emphasize that spring arises from a dead- by these colors? ened, dark winter, rather than emphasizing They enter the new world naked, joy as other poets might. cold, uncertain of all If students need help . . . Work with them save that they enter. All about them the cold, familiar wind— e e IMAGISM to complete a Cluster Diagram like this Reread lines 16–19. What words and phrases one, using color words and other words 20 Now the grass, tomorrow does Williams use to they associate with spring. Have them the stiff curl of wildcarrot leaf characterize the newly compare and contrast their words with growing plants in these Williams’s to infer similarities and differ- One by one objects are defined— lines? Then identify the It quickens:3 clarity, outline of leaf language in lines 20–27 ences in feeling. that describes the change that comes upon them. pink But now the stark dignity of roses 25 entrance—Still, the profound change has come upon them: rooted, they flowers grip down and begin to awaken

1. contagious hospital: place where people with contagious Spring diseases are hospitalized. 2. sluggish: slow to respond. 3. quickens: comes alive; revives. BEST PRACTICES TOOLKIT—Transparency Cluster Diagram p. B18 916 unit 5: the harlem renaissance and modernism

L11PE-u05s25-Spring_ThisisJust.indd 916 9/5/06 2:40:29 PM LITERARY ANALYSIS differentiated instruction e imagism for less–proficient readers for advanced learners/ap Possible answer: In lines 16–19 the phrase Concept Support: Make Inferences Have Analyze Figurative Language Ask students “naked, / cold, uncertain” emphasizes the students work with the prereading chart to explain the subtle personification in lines newborn plants’ vulnerability. In lines introduced on page 913 to make inferences 16–18. Example: The new roadside plants are 20–27 words and phrases such as “stiff curl,” from the images in this poem. described like newborn babies that “enter the “clarity, outline of leaf,” “stark dignity,” new world naked, cold, uncertain . . . .” Have “rooted,” “grip down,” and “begin to awak- “Spring and All” students discuss the effects this figurative en” describe the plants’ growing strength Inferences Details comparison has on reader response, and and confidence. It’s early cold wind, mud ask them to consider why the comparison is spring. appropriate in a poem written by a doctor. Invite students to share their analysis and ideas with the class. 916 unit 5

LL11TE-u05s12-station.indd11TE-u05s12-station.indd 916916 11/4/07/4/07 11:27:34:27:34 PMPM This Is Just to Say summary William Carlos Williams The speaker apologizes to an unidentified “you” for eating plums that “you” was saving in the icebox for breakfast, but acknowledges I have eaten the plums that the plums were delicious. that were in the icebox LITERARY ANALYSIS 5 and which f imagism you were probably saving f IMAGISM Possible answer: The two senses invoked in for breakfast Williams has chosen to the poem are taste and touch. This choice invoke only two senses concentrates and focuses the reader’s atten- Forgive me in this poem. What are they? Explain how tion on the sensory experience of eating 10 they were delicious this choice affects your the plums. so sweet perception of those and so cold f sensory details.

Lines 9–12 reinforce key idea: image Discuss What feeling does an image of tasting and touching a plum create? What new sense is added to the image when readers visualize it? Students may associate the image with feelings of joy, pleasure, or abandon. The sense of sight is added to the image through visualization.

selection wrap–up SYNTHESIZE Ask students which of the four poems contains the strongest images. Have them explain their reasoning.

CRITIQUE • Ask students whether imagist poems lose anything because of their strict focus on images, and if so, what. • After completing the After Reading ques- spring and all this is just to say 917 / tions on page 918, have students revisit their responses and tell whether they have L11PE-u05s25-Spring_ThisisJust.indd 917 9/5/06 2:40:31 PM changed their opinions.

for less–proficient readers for advanced learners/ap Concept Support: Make Inferences To help Analyze Style Although William Carlos students find meaning underlying the Williams’s style of spare, imagistic free verse images in the poems, use the Showing, seemed innovative in its time, it may be hard Not Telling, with Literature strategy. for students to appreciate its experimental- ism since so much similar verse has been BEST PRACTICES TOOLKIT written since. Ask students to read other Showing, Not Telling, with Literature poetry in Unit 5, such as by Robert Frost or p. D1 Carl Sandburg, and explain to the class how Williams’s poem would seem daring or experimental in comparison.

spring and all / this is just to say 917

LL11TE-u05s12-station.indd11TE-u05s12-station.indd 917917 11/17/07/17/07 11:21:32:21:32 PMPM