Symbols, Imagery, Wordplay
Form and Meter
Yeah, this verse is about as free as it gets, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have any form at all. For one, throughout it uses the popular format of quatrains (four-lined stanzas). All kinds of p...
Speaker
It's widely known that William Carlos Williams actually did have a grandmother from England. So, the chances are very high that the subject matter of this poem is plucked straight from his own life...
Setting
The speaker gives his most specific setting description in the first stanza—and it ain't pretty. He starts by giving us the grim details of the room his grandmother's been bed-ridden in: "There w...
Sound Check
This poem is really conversational. It sounds like you're just hanging out with a friend in a coffee shop, and he's telling you a story about the last words his grandma ever said. The poet includes...
What's Up With the Title?
Williams is definitely not trying to be too cryptic with this title. The poem builds up to the speaker's grandmother's last words, so what the title promises, the poem delivers. The title also puts...
Calling Card
William Carlos Williams kicked off his poetic career as part of the Imagist movement, a school of poetry headed up by his buddy Ezra Pound. This movement's main goal was to paint precise images wit...
Tough-o-Meter
This is written in purposefully-conversational, easy to understand language. You don't have to be an expert to make this hike.
Trivia
Many of the young poets Williams mentored went on to be really big deals in their own right. You know, like that guy Allen Ginsberg, who said that Williams totally blew his mind and made him the po...
Steaminess Rating
Nope, no sex in this poem what-so-ever. Keep it movin', Shmoopers.