Sort of a Song

Sort of a Song
William Carlos Williams

Let the snake under
his weed
and the writing
be of words, slow and quick, sharp
to strike, quiet to wait
sleepless.

--through metaphor to reconcile
the people and the stones.
Compose. (No ideas
but in things) Invent!
Saxifrage is my flower that splits
the rocks.

First off I would like to say that the author's name is very interesting. Maybe his parents thought it would be funny that his name would be William Williams. Anyways, back to the poem. In the poem I first noticed that there is an interesting structure to it. In the first stanza there are some interesting breaks in lines. In the first three lines the author breaks up a line after "under" and "weed" and "writing" I think that the author did this in order to relate the snake to writing. When you read this and there is the break where it is at in lines 1-3 it allows the reader to see that the author wants us to see the snake as writing because as he seperates this line the snake waits under his weedand the writing. Both are slow and quick, and sharp to strike. The snake is slow in life but fast to strike when the moment arises, just like a writer. A writer will let the inspiration come but when it does and the writer begins the creative process then the writer is fast to strike, is fast to get the writing done and make it potent. Then the author throws a bit of a curveball at the reader by splitting the whole poem into two stanzas and in the first line of the second stanza I noticed that there are two dashes which set apart the stanza which emphasizes the importance of the second stanza. The author set up with writing is and what it is like in the first stanza then in the second stanza the author is stating what creators must do. Writers must "reconcile the people and the stones," stones of course being those who are not open to writing or poetry. The last line of the poem is then a kinda of closing of the poem, a closing that is used to wrap up the entire message of the poem. " Saxrifage is my flower that splits the rocks," in this last line the poet is stating that the writing which he produces is the flower that splites the solid reality that is the worlds rock, or his own personal rock.