Emily C William's Blog

The first read through of William's “Spring and All” was a rollercoaster, to say the least. There were times where I felt strongly in agreement with what he was saying, but just as quickly as I said “yes!” he would drop to a single line or string of thoughts that left me instead asking “what?” However, the second time reading it through and with the incorporated class discussions I became much fonder of the piece and all its complexities.
I think William's strongest feature, in a general sense, is his energy. It is not only the energy that he applies to his work, but also the life that he gives to it. This is interesting for he emphasizes the fact that imagination gives words and phrases life, while he himself is giving his words life. On page 224 he writes “The fixed categories into which life is divided must always hold. These things are normal-- essential to every activity. But they exist-- but not as dead dissections.” I think what he means here is that these every day “things” or words appear disconnected and meaningless until imagination allows them to go beyond their every day connotation and evolve into something else; adapt meaning. Two paragraphs following the above quote, he concludes this though by stating “The same things exist, but in different condition when energized by the imagination” (224).
Another point that I found really interesting and could relate personally to is his idea that life exists whether we realize it or not. It is almost a floating complex of beings, figures, and sensations, but it is only considered “life” when one relates it personally to oneself and creates meaning in the term. Williams phrases it a bit better when stating “life becomes actual only when it is identified with ourselves. When we name it, life exists” (202). I believe this holds true to numerous aspects of life. Things can exist freely with no real attachment to a person, but once that person recognizes it and identifies with it either by naming it or just expending some form of energy on it, it becomes real. This idea of creating actuality out of already existing forms returns to William's notion of imagination and its truly unique abilities. So much of imagination's job is to observe and embrace what already is, but the [arguably] more important job is expanding that..distorting and manipulating it so that it can become something fantastic. It stimulates senses and creativity about objects or experiences, not just record it.
In the question of Modernism and Williams take on the term, I agree that he fits into both definitions. He definitely makes his voice heard and reaches out to the world, writing of Shakespeare and evoking many senses through his poetry. However I believe that Modernism for Williams is more about the construction of meaning. It is all he seems to write about. Words are just words and facts are just facts until imagination gives them meaning. Imagination is the true vehicle of creating and demonstrating value in otherwise dull and lifeless words. I've never thought so much about imagination. The term has always held a somewhat fantastical and colorful connotation in my mind, but not one that I would think of existing in everything around me. Williams has definitely got the wheels going in my head, and I like it.