In William Carlos Williams's poem The Descent, the mood is set from the beginning. The title and many of the words used in the poem have negative meanings, as the speaker describes the downfall. In the 3rd main paragraph however, Williams doesn't sound like he's describing a personal descent he experienced or is experiencing though; it's more like he's talking about what to expect with any personal descent. Stand-alone phrases like "No defeat is made up entirely of defeat" and "no whiteness (lost) is so white as the memory of whiteness" are more like wise idioms than statements relative to the speaker's specific personal struggle. This suggests that perhaps Williams is talking about a descent in a series of several descents, like he's talking to himself and giving reminders that he knows from prior experience.
This falls in line well with Carl Rapp's analysis of The Descent as it relates to Williams's life at the point when this poem was written. He says, "The reasons for this change of direction are, in Williams' case, fairly obvious: the heart attack in 1948, the death of his mother in 1949, and, most spectacularly, the series of crippling strokes in 1951 and 1952 that almost completely knocked him out, paralyzing his right arm and seriously impairing his speech and eyesight." The Descent was written in 1954, and so Williams's unfortunate problems with his health and personal life would have had a profound impact on his life at this point.
The poem (surprisingly) contains positive elements too. He talks of "accomplishment," and near the end mentions a "new awakening; which is a reversal of despair." To me this seems only a setup for the end of the poem, however, as the poem profoundly ends with the phrase "endless and indestructible," almost in an effort to stomp out the optimism that's been sporadically built up. On this point, Rapp disagrees, saying that "Williams himself appears to have been elevated to a life of the spirit in which he is inwardly more secure than ever before." Rapp seems to focus on the positive middle elements, seeing them as Williams's true message, and overlooks the hopeless ending.
1 comment:
Joe,
In your second paragraph you've done a good job of introducing the quotation from Rapp by first highlighting the point you wish to draw the reader's attention to ("Williams's life at the point when this poem was written"), then quoting from the secondary source to support your point, and finally explaining the significance of the quotation in relation to your argument ("The Descent was written in 1954, and so Williams's unfortunate problems with his health and personal life would have had a profound impact on his life at this point."). You could be more specific about the connection you see between Williams's personal problems and the poem itself, but overall you've incorporated the secondary material very smoothly into your paper.
In your third paragraph, where you disagree with Rapp, you again do a good job of introducing the quotation but you end the paragraph (and the post) without fully developing your counterargument. Your disagreement with Rapp suggests that you have an original, innovative reading of the poem, which you should foreground rather than spending your time restating a point that another critic has already made.
Kelly
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