by William Carlos Williams (p1009)
In Brueghel's great picture, The Kermess,
the dancers go round, they go round and
around, the squeal and the blare and the
tweedle of bagpipes, a bugle and fiddles
tipping their bellies (round as the thick-
sided glasses whose wash they impound)
their hips and their bellies off balance
to turn them. Kicking and rolling
about the Fair Grounds, swinging their butts, those
shanks must be sound to bear up under such
rollicking measures, prance as they dance
in Brueghel's great picture, The Kermess.
I liked Williams style of writing so much from last week that I decided to blog on another one of his poems. In short, The Dance, is a messy amalgamation of words and run-on sentences that somehow link together to form two sentences. However, this strange structure does an excellent job of paralelling his topic, “The Kermess”. Much like his poem, the painting itself illustrates a chaotic scene of villagers dancing, celebrating, and drinking.
Yet despite the array of words, Williams is able to carefully depict every little sound or activity. He is able to draw the reader into the festival, both seeing and hearing the frenzy with descriptions like “the squeal and the blare and the tweedle of bagpipes”, or “Kicking and rolling about the Fair Grounds, swinging their butts”.
And in case you’re wondering what these people were frolicking to… here’s a sample of Renaissance music I found on YouTube (notice the clothes they're in).
8 comments:
I found this to be a very odd poem. It seems like a very almost disgusting dance. I agree with Tommy in that this is a very well described poem, Williams really delineates every aspect of the scene. But, I feel like through his very vivid description, the whole dance seems less like the ornate nature of the renaissance and more like a drunken frolicking. He uses repetition in words like bellies and hips and butts and rolling. These words make the people seem more like pigs than anything else. Williams uses a circular structure, beginning and ending with the same line, in order to show that there is no change. The poem is what it is. The dance is and was exactly as he described and did not change or affect anything. Through this I think Williams is trying to say: it is what it is.
I blogged on this poem as well. I agree with both of you about the poem's language and structure, how in its chaotic jumble of words and phrases it draws the reader into the action and the dance. However, Nabeel, I thought that by beginning and ending with the same line, Williams was being more literal. The two lines "frame" the description of the dance, creating an imitative structure which mimics the actual painting. The opening and closing lines remind the reader that despite all the action inbetween, that action is only occurring in the painting.
I like the way you thought of the repetition of the first and last lines Michaela. I didn't see it like that at first. I think William could also have used the lines twice to show the continuation. While it may be only within the fram itself, this dance is ongoing. It's as if the townsfolk are dancing around in circles and always end up at the same place. However, unlike Nabeel, I think it's supposed to be a positive thing; as if the dancers will continue to dance and have fun for all of time.
I didn't enjoy reading this poem, but I agree that it is very vivid in describing the festivities of the day. I didn't notice, but after I read it, you are right, the structure of the poem parallels the painting. I think that he mentions The Kermess in beginning and end to signify the control he had to create such an odd poem, just like Brueghel probably was conscious when he painted The Kermess. It may sound and look chaotic, it is very a very sophisticated version of chaos. That was what I was trying to get at.
I like this poem because initially it seems like there is no structure to it. After re-reading it again the descriptions flow together, like the dance is being performed. The in depth details of the poem, gives the feeling of observing the dance first hand, instead of staring at the painting of it. I agree with Chris about the "sophisticated version of chaos." Williams creates some structure in the order of which he describes The Kermess painting. Pointing out the details of the instruments and movement of the dancers, the way he first sees them. This view adds a different and interesting aspect to the poem.
I like the way that William Carlos Williams begins and ends his poem, with "in Brueghel's great picture, The Kermess", he sets up the internal strucute to fit into the boundries of hte painting.It is as if he is describign the picture to someone who cannot see it,with little apparent structure. I aggree with Chris's description of "sophicticated chaos" in describing hte style of the poem.
To begin and end the poem with “In Bruegels great picture” emphasizes that all of this action is still being perceived by looking at a painting. The internal structure of this poem plays on the fact that something as literally “still” as a painting can callow the readers to picture an upbeat gathering of people happily dancing.
Post a Comment