Complete a SOAPStone + Theme for a Williams poem of your choice. (I have posted two below.)
In the interest of saving paper I would like you to post your SOAPStone + Theme in the comment box. Identify the poem. Include your name. Write down your ideas about the speaker, occasion, audience, purpose, subject, tone, and theme. Make sure your ideas are adequately explained and supported.
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SOAPSTONE and Theme
“The Desolate Field”
Willie Norris
Vast and grey, the sky
is a simulacrum
to all but him whose days
are vast and grey and—
In the tall, dried grasses
a goat stirs
with nozzle searching the ground.
My head is in the air
but who am I . . . ?
—and my heart stops amazed
at the thought of love
vast and grey
yearning silently over me.
Speaker: The speaker in this poem seems to be the one whose “head is in the air.” He, or she, is questioning themselves, and is amazed at the thought of love (of which seems to be the result of searching for him or herself.) The speaker is seemingly noticing another figure in this poem. This figure could be argues to be the speaker himself in a sort of “out of body” experience. Since the speaker identifies the sky as a “simulacrum,” he or she is talking of the sky a representation for another thing. This leads one to think that the speaker believes that the sky is only real when the person observing is himself “vast and grey.”
Occasion: The event that prompts the speaker to speak is looking into the sky; into the “vastness of it all.” This leads him (I will call the speaker a “he” from now on) to question himself. It seems as though it is a dreary day, where the sky seems more “gray” than usual. This muted color arouses the thoughts in the speakers mind.
Audience: The speaker is talking to a vast audience. This seems like a piece that is not necessarily directed at any one particular, bur rather anyone who will listen. Parts of the poem suggest that he is talking to the sky; a self-reflective piece with the sky as the eternal audience. Continuing with the idea of the elements as audience, it could be said that Williams is talking to the desolate field, as well.
Purpose: The purpose of this poem is to show how the vastness of it all can lead one to question self. The poet wrote the poem to show how such intimate and minute details, such as the goat in the field, can be related to a person searching for him or her self. What is interesting is how the poet is essentially searching the sky, while the goat is searching the ground. The poet also wrote this piece to emphasize his eternal idea: the relation between thoughts and objects.
Subject: This poem is about a person noticing the vastness and dullness of the sky above him, then noticing a goat “searching the ground,” essentially leading him to be amazed at the thoughts of love, and the vastness it ensues. This poem, however, can be taken two ways. The inclusion of two hyphens suggests a poem with dual meaning. The poem read, including what is between the hyphens, shows a person using an outside example of a catalyst, while the poem read without what is between the hyphens suggests a poem that is almost completely non-situational. If read without the middle text, the reader would most likely be confused as to what sparked this sudden yearning of love.
Tone: The writer uses a humbled tone in this poem. The poem starts out with a clear cut description of what the sky is, but no real knowledge of what the sky does. However, with the inclusion of the goat, the ending is much more passionate. There is almost a shock factor with the speaker; a sense of amazement at the feelings that are coming over him; never knowing them to be possible.
Soapstone + theme
Between Walls
the back wings
of the
hospital where
nothing
will grow lie
cinders
in which shine
the broken
pieces of a green
bottle
Speaker: The speaker of this poem is a person who has lost a loved one. (The speaker is referred to as a man from now on) His love was in the hospital for an extended period of time but it seemed as there was no hope. “The back wings of the hospital where nothing will grow." It was in the back wings of the hospital that she was placed.
Occasion: The speaker is prompted to write this poem because he needed to express how he felt about his loved one in this situation. He has found that even in the most grim situations there is always hope hints the "shine the broken pieces of a green bottle." Even though the bottle is broken it is still shinning.
Audience: The audience of this poem is anyone who has lost hope and needs to regain it. There does not seem to be a specific person that the speaker is trying to reach out to.
Purpose: The purpose of this poem is to show the audience that hope should never be lost. Even though the speaker has had to deal with his loved one's condition of being in the hospital and it seems that there is no response of her getting better, there is still hope. In the "cinders" the broken bottle still shines as a signal of hope not lost.
Subject: The subject of this poem can be taken two ways first in the physical aspect of the broken glass that shines in the cinders. The other meaning is the symbol in which the shinning class stands for, hope.
Tone: The tone that the speaker uses in this poem is a melancholy. He uses words such as "cinders, broken, pieces" which all suggest a defeated past. The word "shinning" gives a different tone however of faith.
Theme: The theme of this poem is that even in the worst situations hope can be found. The cinders in the back wings of the hospital symbolize defeat and emptiness but the green broken bottle shinning shows a glimmer of hope. Much like light in a dark situation.
Erin Stockman
December 13, 2007
SOAPStone + Theme
Early Poems William Carlos Williams
"Good Night"
Speaker: The speaker in this poem is probably a man. One of his strongest memories of the night is of girls passing before him at the opera. He remembers many details about the girls and seems to have been attracted to them. The speaker lives comfortably in an apartment with a kitchen and a white sink. The speaker must have a fair amount of money, as he could afford opera tickets.
Occasion: The speaker is preparing to go to sleep and is going through his nightly rituals. Certain objects in his kitchen prompt the speaker to enter a dream like state and remember his experience at the opera.
Audience: The audience is anyone for looks forward to sleep and dreaming about their experiences especially during times when the body is tired but the mind is not. The reader knows that the audience is able to enter the mind of the speaker and hear his thoughts regarding his surroundings.
Purpose: The purpose of this poem is to capture the thoughts of the mind before it goes to sleep. In this state memories are mottled and we can relive moments of emotion clearly while our sensory perception of our current environment is dulled by exhaustion.
Subject: The subject is dreams, although the speaker is not asleep, his mind seems to be working in a dream like drunken state.
Tone: The tone of this poem is optimism; the man is looking forward to dreaming about his positive experience.
Theme: The theme of this poem is life reminiscent of memory; the parsley in the kitchen reminds the speaker of the life and youth of the girls at the opera.
Dan Aloisio
Libertad! Igualdad! Fraternidad!
You sullen pig of a man
you force me into the mud
with your stinking ash-cart!
Brother!
----if we were rich
we’d stick our chests out
and hold our heads high!
It is dreams that have destroyed us.
There is no more pride
in horses or in rein holding.
We sit hunched together brooding
our fate.
Well---
all things turn bitter in the end
whether you choose the right or
the left way
and---
dreams are not a bad thing.
Speaker: The speaker in this poem seems to be a poor man that is attacked by another poor man because of their mutually bad situations. I imagine a man in ragged, grey clothes that is just walking down the street when another man that is moving in the opposite direction behind a cart pushes him because he does not care enough for his fellow man to change direction.
Occasion: The poem is written to show the inevitability of having no social mobility, but also the optimism that comes from trying, from dreaming. The speaker is aspiring, or was dreaming, to become “rich” or at least have some reason to “hold our heads high,” but failed in the attempt.
Audience: The speaker is talking directly to the man that has pushed him aside. This man is also poor and seems to be very aloof, trapped in his own troubles.
Purpose: The speaker is not calling anyone or anything to action; rather, the speaker is expressing a specific feeling, almost a hopeless optimism, a satisfaction that comes from attempt, albeit a failed attempt.
Subject: The poem is centered on two men that accidentally collide or bump each other. The bumped man then talks to the audience, the other man, and reminds him that it is not a personal vengeance, but a result of situation.
Tone: The tone is one of a man breaking up a fight, as if someone is saying, “Get off of him! Don’t you understand that you shouldn’t be fighting?” There is also an undertone of having no control of that which one most desires, because “all things turn bitter in the end / whether you choose the right or / the left way,” but this is overshadowed by the optimism in the final line, “dreams are not a bad thing.”
Theme: The poem has a theme of optimism in dreaming, whether or not the dream actually materializes. This dream is specifically a dream of upward social movement, a desire for wealth in order to escape desperation. Or, at the very least, a desire for pride, something to justify “stick[ing] our chests out.”
SOAPSTONE and THEME
"Apology"
John Ryan
Why do I write today?
The beauty of
the terrible faces
of our nonentities
stirs me to it:
colored women
day workers-
old and experienced- returning home at dusk
in cast off clothing
faces like
old Florentine oak.
Also
the set pieces
of your faces stir me-
leading citizens-
but not
in the same way.
Speaker: Very early in the poem, Williams writes, "Why do I write today?" This suggests that Williams, himself, is the speaker.
The speaker, however, is Williams during contemplation, Williams pondering the importance of the hard-working and the ignored.
Occasion: For some reason or another, Williams has realized the invisibility of the working class and their importance. His respect for such people has caused him to share this feeling.
Audience: Williams seems to be targeting upper class, white collar America, those who live their lives oblivious to those who are holding the fabric of society together.
Purpose: Williams' purpose is simply to call to attention these people who, as he states in the last line of the poem, are "leading citizens- but not in the same way," suggesting the importance of these people but lack of recognition they recieve.
Subject: The old and skilled, the working class, run this country, regardless of whether or not they are recognized for it.
Tone: Williams uses an appreciative tone to present his poem, with contrasting positive and negative words joined together to show both the positive role that these citizens play and the negative recognition they have recieved.
Theme: The theme of this poem is simply that the masses who are often ignored are often of the greatest importance to society.
Melanie Tobey
SOAPSTONE + Theme
Summer Song
Wandering moon,
Smiling
A faintly ironical smile
At this brilliant,
Dew moistened
Summer morning-
A detached,
Sleepily indifferent
Smile,
A wanderers smile-
If I should
Buy a shirt
Your color, and
Put on a necktie
Sky-blue,
Where would they carry me?
Over the hills and
Far away?
Where would they carry me?
Speaker: The speaker of “Summer Song” appears to be a dreamer and is intrigued by the summer sky. The speaker recognizes the sky as if it is a person making references throughout the poem of the sky “smiling”. Also, at the end of the poem the speaker appears to be a person who questions a lot of things in life such as, where could the sky carry him?
Occasion: The occasion of this poem is the speaker describing the transition from night to morning during the summer. The reader is able to tell this by his description of the “wandering moon”, which is the moon moving across the sky as the night comes to an end. This description leads the reader to believe that there may be a deeper meening behind his description of the transition.
Audience: This poem does not appear to directed towards any audience in particular. There are certain people who may be drawn to this poem such as people who like the summer, and also people who are dreamers.
Purpose: The purpose of this poem is to describe the transition from night to morning but also show the connection with ones dreams and the sky. The speaker connects his dreams with they sky by questioning where the sky can take him.
Subject: The subject of this poem is a transition, night to morning. Through the speakers description of the night to morning transition he in fact describes his own transition which leads him away from reality.
Tone: The tone that the speaker uses is one that has faith that the dark night will soon turn to a summer morning. He stays positive and optimistic even though he finds himself questioning.
Theme: The theme of this poem is dreams. The speaker uses the transition from night to morning to describe his own transition. At first a “wandering moon” who is “detached” but then describes a developing smile.
TO WISH MYSELF COURAGE
On the day when youth is no more upon me
I will write of the leaves and the moon in a tree top!
I will sing then the song, long in the making -
When the stress of youth is put away from me.
How can I ever be written out as men say?
Surely it is merely an interference with the long song -
This that I am now doing.
But when the spring of it is worn like the old moon
And the eaten leaves are lace upon the Earth
Then I will rise up in my great desire -
Long at birth - and sing me the youth-song!
SPEAKER: I assume the speaker to be William Carlos Williams for two reasons: because the speaker states that he is young and the poem was taken from the earliest collections of his work, and also because the speaker talks of writing.
OCCASION: The speaker, I believe, is desirous of a better way to express his feelings about death and aging. He gives himself courage by imagining the song of life that he will sing when he is older or (depending on how you interpret the poem) dead.
AUDIENCE: The title of the poem is "To Wish Myself Courage," so I think that the poem is an intimate glimpse into a conversation the author has with himself.
PURPOSE: The writer, in my opinion, is describing the frustrations of writing poetry and the limitations life puts on creative expression. He wants to give himself courage to deal with these emotions by imagining a day when he will be separate from the "stress of youth".
SUBJECT: The writer is describing a future poem, or a future song that he will sing in reflection of his life.
TONE: The author speaks of old age and death in a jaunty, optimistic style.
THEME: The theme is, in my opinion, about how the mundane responsibilities of life can cause stress and effect the psyche.
Love Song
I lie here thinking of you:—
the stain of love
is upon the world!
Yellow, yellow, yellow
it eats into the leaves,
smears with saffron
the horned branched the lean
heavily
against a smooth purple sky!
There is no light
only a honey-thick stain
that drips from leaf to leaf
and limb to limb
spoiling the colors
of the whole world—
you far off there under
the wine-red selvage of the west!
Speaker: The speaker here is a man or woman in love. The gender is never actually specified, but by default the reader can assume it is WCW. I am merely presenting the possibility of a female speaker.
Occasion: What prompts the speaker to write this is his or her frustration with loving someone. Throughout the poem, the speaker writes ambivalently about loving someone and the way it affects the lover's life.
Audience: From the beginning of the poem, the speaker makes it clear that he is thinking of his or her partner. "I lie here thinking of you-." At the end of the poem, however, another hyphen cuts in and the speaker writes (says?), "you far off there under the wine-red selvage of the west!" This is an obvious reference to the sun, which sets in the west. It could be said that he or she could be comparing his or her lover to the setting sun.
Purpose: This poem seems to be an attempt at explaining the duality of the feeling of love. The speaker mentions that is it a "honey-thick stain", which would be difficult to remove from a surface. The sweetness of the honey counter acts the inconvenience of the sticky stain. This is true of the dual nature of love. Inconvenient, but sweet.
Subject: The subject is the duality of love. It is about the way its triggers affect perception of one's surroundings.
Tone: The tone is ambivalent. Despite the fact that the speaker is relating love to a destructive force that "spoils the colors of the whole world", it is not a black emptiness. It is a thick, syrupy sweet. The speaker does not seem overtly upset about feeling the sensation of love.
Theme: The duality of sensations seems to be a prevalent theme. Sensations can be perceived different ways, and sometimes sensations can lead to perception changes.
SOAPStone and Theme
"The Red Wheelbarrow"
Avery McNiff
So much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens
Speaker: The speaker of the poem seems to be an observer. I lean towards believing it is a bypasser rather than the owner of the wheelbarror. No owndership is given to the object.
Occasion: The event that spurs idea of this poem is simply coming across a wheelbarrow. The poem is a thought which originated from the sight of the wheelbarrow.
Audience: This poem is a personal thought and does not try to target or appeal to a certain specific audience. It is an observation written for one's own personal purpose.
Purpose: The purpose of this poem is to demonstrate the appreciation of a simplistic and often overlooked and understated object. The poem relays a sense of calme and meditation felt by observing this scene.
Tone: The tone is thoughful, relazed, appreciative, slow, and objective. The lines are basic and clear, each consisting of 1 or 3 words.
Theme: This poem focuses on tranquility and noticing the simplistic yet powerful and important objects in our daily lives and routines. Every line is short and simple but contributes greatly to the poem as a whole, which reflects the idea of a simple object having a larger overall purpose. The red wheelbarrow is a bold description demonstrating it's power. Both the poem and wheelbarrow may seem elementary at first glance, but when looked at with greater thought, contain much greater meaning and significance.
Libertad! Igualdad! Fraternidad!
Speaker: The speaker of this piece strikes me as a weathered and weary man who has recently become completely jaded to the ways of the world. He has been subjected to class division (since he comments on the status of the prideful rich), but still thinks this separation is wrong, and that fate escapes no one (citing there is no difference between “horse” and “rein holder” – which could be construed as the laborer and “master”). Stubborn with his beliefs, he notes that while dreams have destroyed us, dreams are still not a bad thing. This leads the reader to believe that the speaker considers destruction to be vital to humanity.
Occasion: Considering that the poem opens with a stanza involving the speaker being forced “into the mud”, the occasion seems to be commenting on such oppression. The title of the poem speaks of brotherhood, but we see this fraternity being broken by struggles between the successful (the “rein holding”) and the poor (“horse”). The speaker is trying to spread the idea that, at the end of the day, this broken equality are still united by their humanity (“we sit hunched together brooding our fate”).
Audience: This piece appears to have a double audience of sorts: the one directly mentioned in the poem and the implied reading audience. The first is referred to in the poem, first as a sullen pig of a man. He continues to use this character of sorts in order to direct the purpose of the poem to a specific demographic, but is implying that the “moral” of the poem is to be taken by the second, implied audience. This audience is anyone who is reading the poem, to question their beliefs in separating our “brotherhood” by status.
Purpose: The purpose of this poem is to uncover the lost unity of our species, and to hopefully inspire the audience to fix this problem. It sheds light on the fact that we divide ourselves through materialistic means. The poem recognizes that we all have the same inevitable fate in the end (death), no matter the path of life we choose, and that this unified fate should hold together our “brotherhood”
Subject: The subject of this poem – as mentioned before – is humanity and equality. It also touches upon the subject of dreams, and how they are necessary for both life and destruction.
Tone: The tone of “Libertad! Igualdad! Fraternidad!” subtly changes throughout the stanzas in order to support the message and meaning of the overall poem. At the beginning, it seems the speaker is verbally spitting at the feet of the oppressor (and also, as we find out later, what he considers the common man), exclaiming his disgust at being pushed into the mud. The second stanza seems to be sarcastically reflecting on what he condemns, but the greater society praises: riches. From there, the third and fourth stanzas focus on sincere truth, as the speaker earnestly confides in the audience that, at the end of life, we are all united by our fate. Though the tone evolves throughout the poem, the overall effect is that the speaker pities the lack of insight his “brother” has.
Theme: The themes of this poem are social division and optimism. The first is apparent throughout the poem, giving the speaker parameters of life and limiting his opportunities. The second theme of optimism is subtly threaded through the narrative, as the speaker reveals that, while dreams have destroyed us, they are not bad things. This demonstrates the speakers unyielding optimism that dreaming is necessary to living.
SOAPSTone + Theme of Love Song
I lie here thinking of you:—
the stain of love
is upon the world!
Yellow, yellow, yellow
it eats into the leaves,
smears with saffron
the horned branched the lean
heavily
against a smooth purple sky!
There is no light
only a honey-thick stain
that drips from leaf to leaf
and limb to limb
spoiling the colors
of the whole world—
you far off there under
the wine-red selvage of the west!
Speaker: The speaker may be Williams himself but whoever the speaker is it is a person who is in love.
Occasion: The occasion is the speakers love for their partner.
Audiance: I think that the audiance of the poem is the speakers partner who he misses and loves.
Purpose: I think that the purpose of the peom was to show the complexity of love and what it really means. When you are in love you do things that you might not do normally. Almost as if love "puts you under a spell."
Subject: The subject is love and how being in love changes your world.
Tone: The tone of the poem is contradictory because Williams uses unconventional things to describe love. "spoiling the colors
of the whole world."
SOAPStone + theme
"Love Song"
Emily Munroe
I lie here thinking of you:—
the stain of love
is upon the world!
Yellow, yellow, yellow
it eats into the leaves,
smears with saffron
the horned branched the lean
heavily
against a smooth purple sky!
There is no light
only a honey-thick stain
that drips from leaf to leaf
and limb to limb
spoiling the colors
of the whole world—
you far off there under
the wine-red selvage of the west!
Speaker: The speaker in this poem seems to be someone in love. Whether it is WCW it does not specify; he could be writing in as a woman for all one knows.
Occasion: The speaker is prompted to speak by whom they are in love with. The meer thought of what this love is to the speaker has them bringing up imagery explaining a change in lifestyle that, "spoiling the colors/ of the whole world" .
Audience: Since this is a love poem, one can assume that it is directed to whom the speaker is in love with- "I lie here thinking of you".
Purpose: The purpose of this poem is to show the multiple levels of love. That love is not always corny, mushy, but life changing, sometimes destroying the life one had before. This poem brings a completely different kind of love poem. Using yellow as the descriptive adjective, not the usual red.
Subject: This poem is about someone who is in love expressing to who they are in love with how much they have changed their life.
Tone: The speaker seems enthusiastic, ironically about the destroying factors of love. They are excited of its "stain upon the world".
Theme: The theme of this poem is the way one aspect of life can be perceived in differnt ways. In this case love, which is usually viewed as happy and wonderful, is described in a destructive manner.
"Libertad! Igualdad! Fraternidad!"
You sullen pig of a man
you force me into the mud
with your stinking ash-cart!
Brother!
--if we were rich
we'd stick our chests out
and hold our heads high!
It is dreams that have destroyed us.
There is no more pride
in horses or in rein holding.
We sit hunched together brooding
our fate.
Well--
all things turn bitter in the end
whether you choose the right or
the left way
and--
dreams are not a bad thing.
SOAPSTone and Theme
There is no more pride
in horses or in rein holding.
We sit hunched together brooding
our fate.
Well--
all things turn bitter in the end
whether you choose the right or
the left way
and--
dreams are not a bad thing.
Speaker: The speaker of this poem seems extremely mad in the beginning, and progressively comes to realize that what he is mad at is not the pig, but that his dreams have not been realized. There are good and bad things that happen, but it only matters that on the way to the end, one has dreams. Things are never the same, but one must find their way.
Occasion: The occasion that prompts the speaker to write the poem is an injustice that he is suffering with his companion. It is something that he is mad at humanity for, then he accepts.
Audience: The audience is the person with whom he is mad, then his brother. He turns from madness with one to agreement with everyone. It is meant to speak to anyone.
Purpose: The purpose of this poem is to show that turning anger to love is one of the ways that one matures. He is so enraged at the beginning, then he turns to his neighbor and begins to realize that whatever injustices he experienced to to happen. He must hold on to dreams, because that is all anyone can have.
Subject: This poem is about dreams and how one believes in them, no matter what happens. The pigs are not what matters, and one should look to his brother. Anger can turn to something positive. One must have a dream to survive
Tone: The tone of this poem is anger, then realization. He becomes passive in the end, and persuasive.
Theme: the theme of this poem is to not place blame on others. One must find good in any situation. One has to dream.
Among the rain
and lights
I saw the figure 5
in gold
on a red
fire truck
moving
tense
unheeded
to gong clangs
siren howls
and wheels rumbling
through the dark city
Speaker: The speaker is someone standing in chaos but standing and observing small details.
Occasion: Among all the lights and sounds, there seems to be something so simple in the middle of it.
Audience: People that can look beyond everything that is happening and see the little details.
Purpose: To have the audience pay attention to the words and the description to see past the bigger pictures.
Subject: The firetruck moving by while the number five seems to be standing still.
Tone: The tone is slow and certain. Slowly describing the details with few words in each line.
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