“The Widow's Lament in Springtime” Summary

“The Widow's Lament in Springtime” Themes

• 

  Loss, Grief, and Despair

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• 

  Nature's Beauty and Indifference

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Widow's Lament in Springtime”

• Lines 1-6

  Sorrow is my own yard
  where the new grass
  flames as it has flamed
  often before but not
  with the cold fire
  that closes round me this year.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 7-10

  Thirtyfive years
  I lived with my husband.
  The plumtree is white today
  with masses of flowers.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 11-16

  Masses of flowers
  load the cherry branches
  and color some bushes
  yellow and some red
  but the grief in my heart
  is stronger than they

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 17-19

  for though they were my joy
  formerly, today I notice them
  and turn away forgetting.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 20-24

  Today my son told me
  that in the meadows,
  at the edge of the heavy woods
  in the distance, he saw
  trees of white flowers.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 25-28

  I feel that I would like
  to go there
  and fall into those flowers
  and sink into the marsh near them.

  

  

  

  

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“The Widow's Lament in Springtime” Symbols

• 

  Flowers

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“The Widow's Lament in Springtime” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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• Juxtaposition

  

  

  

  

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• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Imagery

  

  

  

  

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“The Widow's Lament in Springtime” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Lament
• Flames/Flamed
• Plumtree
• Masses
• Marsh

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Widow's Lament in Springtime”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“The Widow's Lament in Springtime” Speaker

“The Widow's Lament in Springtime” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “The Widow's Lament in Springtime”

More “The Widow's Lament in Springtime” Resources

• External Resources

  • A Williams Documentary — Watch a film about William Carlos Williams from the USA: Poetry documentary series.

  • WCW on Film — A documentary about Williams from the Voices and Visions series.

  • An Introduction to the Poet — A brief introduction to Williams's poetry, including "The Widow's Lament in Springtime."

  • The Poem Aloud — Listen to Williams reading "The Widow's Lament in Springtime."

  • The Poet's Life and Work — A brief biography of William Carlos Williams, courtesy of Poets.org.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by William Carlos Williams

  • Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

  • Raleigh Was Right

  • Spring and All (By the road to the contagious hospital)

  • The Red Wheelbarrow

  • This Is Just To Say