"The Widow's Lament in Springtime" is a poem by William Carlos Williams about a widow mourning the loss of her husband. It was published in 1921. Williams was largely noted for his importance in the Modernism and Imagism movements. He sought to write in a voice that was unadorned with poetic excess. In a clear and concise style, he tried to communicate the images and emotions in his work as directly as possible. His work would go on to have a lasting impact on many major poets including Gary Snyder, Allen Ginsberg, and Robert Lowell. His dedication to clarity can be seen throughout this poem, which wrestles with grief in a straightforward manner.
The poem opens with the speaker, a widow, comparing her grief to her backyard in springtime. As the grass begins to grow, she notes her deep sadness at seeing this yearly burst of life without her husband. She then describes the blossoming of her plum tree and bushes in vivid detail, highlighting their white, yellow, and red coloration. She says that normally this natural beauty would have brought her joy, but now it only reminds her of absence. Finally, she recounts how her son mentioned a meadow where he saw a tree of white flowers. She states that she would like to go to that meadow, fall to the ground, and sink into the soft marsh around the flowers.
The poem is structured like a dramatic monologue. The widow describes how the meaning of natural scenes has changed for her, in light of her grief. The poem utilizes juxtaposition to contrast the renewal and beauty of springtime with the pain of grief and loneliness. Williams carefully changes the implication of his natural images by placing them in this context. Some of the lines are end-stopped with punctuation, but Williams uses enjambment throughout the text. This structure requires the reader to go over the images more carefully, as the lines are interconnected and not entirely self-contained.
