“The Dance” by William Carol Williams: The Modernist Poem

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American modernism is a constant battle between what the world is supposed to be and what people want it to be. The novelty lies in struggling for what life is worth, and defending the rights people are given at birth.

There cannot be anything more sincere, genuine and causing more debates than American poetry. With not quite many years of development, tracing back, perhaps, to Longfellow, and continuing up to the modern poets, it still had very little time to grow. Yet what we can see now is a flourishing valley. In my opinion, that is something that grants America certain appreciation and regard.

Yet the stages of its development manage to coincide with the ones of European poetry, not dubbing it, but creating something completely new and genuine, full of truly American spirit and understanding of the poetic world.

Coming a little closer to the topic under discussion, I would like you to pay special attention to the poem by William Carol Williams named The Dance. It is a commonly known truth that the impact of Europe has played its great role in the American poetry concept. That was quite understandable, for, being somehow a virgin population, they make out their own approach to the literature itself, understanding it and even feeling it in a different way. That is somehow due to the expressionism of the literature of this newborn country.

I wonder if you could feel this floating energy, so soft yet burning like lava. It makes the modernistic vision of the world clear as ever, pushing a man to fight everything that is unfair with all their strength. That is the most important peculiarity of this kind of poetry, which is absolutely clear and still hard to point out as you go into deep research. Is that the airiness of the subject that does not let the scientists cut it in their deeply scientific way?

It is hard to figure out where that very specific piece of heart might be. Is it the mighty influence of the metaphor? Or the way the author puts his life due to the powerful structure of the poem? Is it the style that grips the audience’s attention? Was that the roar of the inner rhythm that shook me to the core as my lips read the poetry written as if not with ink, but with the poet’s blood?

The subject is very subtle and discussion can lead to different opinions.

On the one hand the over-emotionality can cause a deadly effect on the poem and crash it to the core. Pomposity kills every single grain of life in the poem and dries it out completely. The idea of avoiding it is one of the core notions of modernism.

Still it seems that the power of the sound as the one that gives birth to the word is the one of the utmost importance. Practically, the sound is a thought put into emotions, and only then transformed into meaningful words. Now try to listen to this one: “…the Kermess, the dancers go round, they go round and round” (Booth, 783). The complexity of the sounds and images is the very detail that diverts the reader’s attention. The words rattle and rumble like rocks, and they push the reader to actions in a most modernistic manner.

Next, take a look at these abrupt lines. “Their hips and their bellies off balance” (Booth, 783). If I could paint a picture of this line, it would be a bridge between two bunks of a raving river. The two words quick and loud as gunfire, and a soft link between them. The line is a small masterpiece itself, creating an image of the modernist literature. It sounds much like a military slogan, a call to follow.

Frost insists that what poem needs most is the so-called wildness, which makes the reader feel tuned with the author’s thoughts and unwrap the secrets that the poet must have concealed in his creation. Indeed, the natural whirlwind that seizes a man and puts him into a place forgotten long ago. The modernistic viewpoint has its influence even on the poem structure.

What I just love about the poem is that it sounds sharp, like a dagger, and it cuts just as deep and at times painful. That is the idea of modernism in poetry.

The question is whether a poem has to be that “blood-thirsty”. The choice between a cozy and humming drip-dropping sound and harsh beat of a tam-tam is a matter of life and death for a poem in this case. A modernist poem must be a response to the constant “why’s” and “who’s”, a prompt and a promising clue, which pushes one into further thinking. But this push has to be a harsh and a sudden one. The Dance enters the reader’s private world like a sudden guest, annoying at first, feeling much like a splinter, but then the reader gets used to the strange sensation and starts tasting the poem for what it is, not for what it seems to be.

However, namely the combination of fierce style and the thoughtful pace of the metaphor makes the poem reach one’s heart ad soul. It shows how sad “tweedle of bagpipes” (Booth 783) can be, it turns the reader’s world upside down to show its real value. The modernistic style leads the reader to battle the unavoidable and face it like a man should.

Does a modernist poem have to “begin with delight and end with wisdom” (Frost)? I dare say that poetry is not something that would fit into frames, even so subtle and delicately suggested. “Poetic structure” as the very notion sounds to me like “lively corpse” or “old youngster”, and looks just as absurd. The poet is the structure himself, and it is him to decide which way to go. That is where modernism has crawled into and that is why the new style is so good at expressing the sharpness of the problems on the agenda.

Despite the abovementioned, the concept that Frost suggests, reminding of the measures of ideal poetry established by the ancient Greeks, has its point in making both the reader’s and the poet’s efforts way easier. Indeed, making the situation spin until it reaches its highest degree of tension and then letting it roll is a time-tested way of successful interaction with the audience. But does Williams provide it? I would say, no. Instead, he suggests something new. He allows the readers to think on their own. Leaving them without their questions answered, he seems to say, “Now let’s see if you have imagination good enough to solve this little riddle.” The figure his poem makes is a shape that one has to watch for a long time to find out what it means.

One of the aspects of American modernism is to avoid the notorious “Kicking and rolling about the Fair Grounds” (Booth 783). The writing is the arrow that has to hit its original aim. and whether this should be the heart of an average dweller or the existing political regime, the arrow must be sharp enough. It must pierce, not scratch. The words are not to sound big, but to be big.

And as you look close enough, you will see that this shape is beautiful and complete, like the wings of a butterfly. It needs examinations and research no longer, for it has served its purpose to fill the world with beauty and grace. A bugle and feedles have been tipping their bellies long enough, and now the time has come to let the Kermess get rid of all the mess it has, for the poetry no longer needs the crutches to walk on. It has become complete. Its modernist style has played its part here, and now the masterpiece is left for people to enjoy its wisdom delicately. It burns the structure down and leaves the very notion naked. It stings and bites, but the stings heal the older wounds of misunderstanding.

That is modernism, you know.

Works Cited

Booth, Alison, and Kelly J. Mays. The Norton Introduction to Literature (Shorter Tenth Edition), 2010. Print.

Frost, Robert. “The Figure a Poem Makes.” Mr. Bauld’s English Website, n.p., 1997. Web.

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“The Dance” by William Carol Williams: The Modernist Poem

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