William Carlos Williams

The Widow’s Lament in Springtime by William Carlos Williams

This poem made me think about a widow’s life. This widow had been married thirty-five years and seemed not to know what to do. I see a lot of despair. “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,” new grass is green and lush and should be enjoyed but with the widow she does not feel the softness of the lush grass but instead feels cold and indifferent. She describes the trees that through any other’s eyes would be beautiful but I just don’t think she can feel the beauty anymore since she has lost her husband. She goes on to say,”...but the grief in my heart is stronger than they for though they were my joy formerly, today I notice them and turn away forgetting,” she seems not to want to see the beautiful flowers. The widow’s son tells her about the “trees of white flowers,” that at the edge of the heavy woods. Could the heavy woods be the grief that she has felt and the, “trees of white flowers,” would be the healing after the pain? I am thinking he wants her to heal so she can learn to enjoy life again.