2. William Carlos Williams, "Between Walls"

 

William Carlos Williams was a medical doctor - a pediatrician. You went to his home office for consults, or he did house calls. He was also affiliated with a hospital, and regularly "did rounds" there. This poem, "Between Walls," describes what he observed while looking out from a back wing of the hospital. The poem was written under the sway of "imagism," a modernist mode that called for radical condensation, precision, and visuality.

1. read the poem: link to text

2. listen to Williams perform the poem: link to PennSound

3. read/listen to a text-audio alignment of the poem: link to PennSound

4. listen to a 25-minute discussion of the poem: link to PoemTalk

5. watch a 10-minute discussion of the poem: link to video