Analysis of Backward

William Carlos Williams 1883 (Rutherford) – 1963 (Rutherford)



A three-day-long rain from the east--
an terminable talking, talking
of no consequence--patter, patter, patter.
Hand in hand little winds
blow the thin streams aslant.
Warm. Distance cut off. Seclusion.
A few passers-by, drawn in upon themselves,
hurry from one place to another.
Winds of the white poppy! there is no escape!--
An interminable talking, talking,
talking . . .it has happened before.
Backward, backward, backward.


Scheme ABCDAEFCGBHI
Poetic Form
Metre 01111101 110001010 11100101010 101101 10111 11011010 01101100101 101111010 11011011101 1010001010 10111001 101010
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 425
Words 67
Sentences 14
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 12
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 332
Words per stanza (avg) 66
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

20 sec read
340

William Carlos Williams

William Carlos Williams was a Latino-American poet closely associated with modernism and imagism. more…

All William Carlos Williams poems | William Carlos Williams Books

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