3 ms·

I am genuinely curious how you (and the authors of eleven poetry anthologies) can find so much meaning in such a short poem. I see that it has some visual image

I am genuinely curious how you (and the authors of eleven poetry anthologies) can find so much meaning in such a short poem. I see that it has some visual imagery and definitely evokes the imagination (about farming for sustenance, I think) but I'm not sure if there's something else I'm missing.

josephorjoe 9y ago
Honestly, I think the reason it gets included so often is that it is short and can usually fill out a page that one of Williams' longer and more substantive poems (e.g., Spring and All) ends on. Also, it is one of the better examples of a type of visual/minimalist/free verse mid-20th century american poetry that is super approachable and understandable (read some of the Wallace Stevens stuff for the counter examples). Plus, it is great for having "Wait, is this really a poem? What is a poem??" discussions in English 101 classes. And, to be fair, if some random person wrote it, it would get almost no attention at all, but Williams really was a quite good poet. And while this little poem doesn't have much to it, what it has is nicely wrought. Just my $0.02...