Spring and All

In William Carols Williams’ poem “Spring and All,” he uses vivid images and metaphors to compare nature to those who endure a deadly disease while quarantined in a contagious hospital. The piece of land surrounding the hospital has been tainted by the dead of winter, which is used to represent those who lost their lives due to the sickness. Then the speaker describes the appreciated transformation the land begins to show, as winter slowly turns into spring. The dead piece of land beginning to show signs of life is used to represent the few that survive and will get o leave the dreary hospital.

The speaker describes the piece of land surrounding the hospital as muddy, lifeless, and cold. The description of the land during winter is used to symbolize the gloomy feel of the hospital and those who will never leave it, consumed by their illness. Like winter, those who have died are like “twiggy/ stuff of bushes and small trees/ with dead, brown leaves under them/ leafless vines-,” (10-13. ) The lifelessness of the land and the bare dead plants is used as a metaphor for the tragic deaths of the quarantined patients.

The speaker describes the sky and weather as “mottled clouds driven from/ the northeast – a cold wind,” (3-4. ) The cold wind is used to symbolize the cold chill of death and the misery that will blow through families who lost their loved ones. The poem then begins to portray the beginning of spring and the diseased filled land commences on a slow transformation with a chance of vitality. The land Is “lifeless in appearance, sluggish/ dazed spring approaches,” (14-15. ) These lines are meant to symbolize the lives of those who struggled and survived through the Illness.

At first they are stricken Ill and appear dead In their beds, but as spring approaches they awaken weak, but alive and full of hope. Spring approaches and “now the stark dignity of/ entrance – Still, the profound change/ has come upon them: rooted, they/ grip down and begin to awaken,” (25-28. ) Not only does the last stanza represent nature breaking through all the dead and being reborn but also those who survived a contagious disease and will receive another chance at life.

Spring has always been a symbol of rebirth because dead, leafless, and flowerless plants begin new growth; animals awaken from their long winter slumber, and also a popular time for new life to enter the world. It makes sense that this poem compares spring with the lives of those who have overcome a serious Illness, and will get another shot at life, almost as If they have been reborn. In this poem, winter Is used as a symbol for those who lost their lives, and the sorrows that will freeze the hearts of their family and friends.

On the other hand, spring Is used to Illustrate the rebirth of nature and the second chance to those who led on and fought to stay alive. As the land outside the contagious hospital begins to transform with new life and beautiful colors It represents the hope of those that survive and could look out one of the hospitals window and witness new life beginning to grow as they experience their own new chance at life. Work Cited Williams, William Carols. “Spring and All,” Literature: A Pocket Anthology. 4th deed. Deed. R. S. Gwynne. New York: Longhand, 2009. 597.

Spring and All By Jones land commences on a slow transformation with a chance of vitality. The land is meant to symbolize the lives of those who struggled and survived through the illness. At first they are stricken ill and appear dead in their beds, but as spring approaches those who have overcome a serious illness, and will get another shot at life, almost as if they have been reborn. In this poem, winter is used as a symbol for those who lost their lives, and the spring is used to illustrate the rebirth of nature and the second chance to those who to transform with new life and beautiful colors it represents the hope of those that