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William Carlos Williams' "Complaint" Analysis

The document summarizes and analyzes the poem "Complaint" by William Carlos Williams. It discusses how Williams uses words with multiple meanings throughout the poem to demonstrate his appreciation for playful language. The poem describes a doctor receiving a late night call to help deliver a baby. Key words like "great," "laboring," and "jalousies" can have different interpretations that indirectly persuade readers to think deeper about the poem's meaning. Overall, the analysis asserts that Williams aims to showcase the concept of objectivism through his clever use of language.

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373 views1 page

William Carlos Williams' "Complaint" Analysis

The document summarizes and analyzes the poem "Complaint" by William Carlos Williams. It discusses how Williams uses words with multiple meanings throughout the poem to demonstrate his appreciation for playful language. The poem describes a doctor receiving a late night call to help deliver a baby. Key words like "great," "laboring," and "jalousies" can have different interpretations that indirectly persuade readers to think deeper about the poem's meaning. Overall, the analysis asserts that Williams aims to showcase the concept of objectivism through his clever use of language.

Uploaded by

api-295870217
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Milly Pnotporn Jantarakolica

Mr. Matthew Bishop


English 12
25 August, 2017

On “Complaint”

In the poem “Complaint”, William Carlos Williams uses words with alternate

meanings to demonstrate his appreciation of playful language. Throughout the poem, the

narrator describes the struggle of a doctor’s life. He received a call at past midnight during

winter to go to a house and help deliver a child. He enters a dark room which has sunlight

shining through the jalousies. He watches her with sympathy. William Carlos Williams uses

words like “great,” “laboring,” and “jalousies,” which have several meanings, to indirectly

persuade readers to think more about the poem and what he is trying to express through the

poem. In the first part of the poem, Williams uses the word “great” to describe the women

which could be interpreted as fat for pregnant women or good as extraordinary. In addition,

“laboring” is used to portray that the woman is working very hard or is giving birth to a child.

Lastly, “jalousies” is commonly used to describe a blind or shutter, but in this case, it sounds

like jealousy and an assumption could be made that Williams tries to use it to represent

resentment. Overall, William Carlos Williams tries to use the beauty of language to display

the concept of objectivist, which emphasizes on intelligence and cleverness.

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