Proletarian Portrait" is a poem by William Carlos Williams that presents a brief snapshot of a working class woman, a proletarian. She is bogged down by two stigmas: class and gender. Because the reader has no other cues of the woman's identity, it is also possible that she is not white, either. Being of the non-dominant culture would make the woman an emblem of the underclass, presuming the setting is in North America or Europe. Williams's poetic portrait depicts the harrowing effects of labor in the capitalist system, sending a strong Marxist message warning about problems such as alienation. Williams uses poetic devices including irony and imagery, in order make strong social commentary about alienation and class conflict. The capitalist wage structure has beaten the dignity out of the woman featured in "Proletarian Portrait." A sense of heaviness, loneliness and sadness pervades the imagery in "Proletarian Portrait," allowing Williams to...
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