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William Carlos Williams is recognized as one of the leading poets of the first half of the twentieth century, and was applauded for carving a unique identity in poetry. For a good portion of Williams career, he wrote using the concept of Objectivism, devoting his poems to describing objects. In this manner, the poems were often very neutral in their tone as Williams described everyday happenings in a manner that kept him separated from his poetry. However, as Williams Carlos Williams neared his death, his poetry changed significantly, as best seen in his poem “Of Asphodel, That Greeny Flower.”

One of the most distinct features of William Carlos Williams poetry is his choice to ignore measures by count and instead, to base his poetry on its sound or the “simple rightness of his eye and ear.” Williams wanted the poems to read naturally to a person, flowing smoothly like music. A similar breaking from measure had arisen with free verse, but Williams disagreed with this as being a contradiction. Verse implies some kind of measure and so, free verse seemed a contradictory form. Williams instead utilized a technique called variable foot which involved a visual structuring of the lines. The poem was broken down with every three lines structured so each line was indented further than the last. Every line in these sets represented a beat. However, criticism of Williams’ strategy arose over the fact that it only worked in his head and may not fit every reader. Each person reads things differently, and so, it can register with an incorrect measure in many readers’ minds.

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The other feature of William Carlos Williams writing was his separation from his writing, and its emphasis on the object. Williams stayed away from philosophy and metaphysics, believing that poetry should contain “no ideas but in things.” This is clear by his famous poem, “The Red Wheelbarrow,” in which Williams describes the wheelbarrow using no other descriptive terms than those physically visible. As part of this, Williams had purged “I” from his writing since there was no need to include his own presence when describing an image.

Taking these ideas, the first thing seen when reading the poem “Of Asphodel, That Greeny Flower” is its fitting into Williams “variable foot” structure. The thirty page poem is broken up into three books. The lines of each book are structured in the sets of three lines so that a sequence of lines in the poem would appear as follows:

“Of asphodel, that greeny flower,
like a buttercup
upon its branching stem-”

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The subject is gifts, let’s remain on course,
There’s always an option of a pony or horse.
How much money are you looking to spend?
Let’s make a budget and not take a lend.
Let’s say £500 that should be enough,
I hope he understands this recession’s no bluff.

Now what to buy for £500,
Which he’ll love, enjoy and remember all year round.
That’s it I’ve got it,
After all this time,
A holiday abroad would be mighty fine.
One with palm trees and a beautiful beach,
Now all I need to find, is his niche.
I think I’ll book Ibiza, Spain or Greece
But he’s been there before, or was that Niece?!
By George I’ve got it, the perfect escape,
I’ll book us to Greece for some well deserved peace.

I am missing you so very much, I just want you here,
Do you really know how much I need you my dear.
I Love you my wife don’t leave me here all alone,
Please phone me up and say I can come home.

My Love for you is far more than real,
I lie here in bed wondering how you feel.
And I still lie here in some sort of daze,
Thinking of you my love in so many ways.

Williams pleads with his wife to listen to him and offer forgiveness as he says at the end of book 1:

“Hear me out
for I too am concerned
and every man
who wants to die at peace in his bed
besides.”

In looking at William Carlos Williams writing of the Asphodel, it is revealing to see how age and the nearness of death caused his poetry to change. In his early years, Williams was a follower of Objectivism, writing poems in which the objects spoke for themselves and in which his energy was invested in describing the scene at hand. However, after suffering from strokes and a heart attack, Williams feared that he would go to the grave with all of his feelings kept secret and so, his poetry changed to reflect the confessional style of poetry. This is clear in “Of Asphodel, That Greeny Flower” where Williams writes a love letter and apology to his wife you can be published without charge. You can to republish this article in your website or blog. Please provide links Active.