William Carlos Williams' "Pastoral" and "Proletarian Portrait"

William Carlos Williams' poem "Pastoral" is narrated in an introspective, confessional voice that describes the narrator's attitude toward the streets in which he was raised. There is very little plot in the poem, and it consists mainly of details concerning the street locale. Given the minimal plot that occurs, the details assume great significance. The reader must therefore be cognizant of how the details inform the meaning, as well as the poem's expressive use of diacritical marks, and the words that begin and end each line. It is significant that the term "ashes," which ends line ten, is followed by a comma and then "furniture," which begins line 11. Ashes are a dirty aspect of street living, while furniture is used by bourgeois members of society, thereby showing how far removed the proletariat is from bourgeois society. Moreover, one of the central tensions...
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