Analysis of Dedication for a Plot of Ground
William Carlos Williams 1883 (Rutherford) – 1963 (Rutherford)
This plot of ground
facing the waters of this inlet
is dedicated to the living presence of
Emily Dickinson Wellcome
who was born in England; married;
lost her husband and with
her five year old son
sailed for New York in a two-master;
was driven to the Azores;
ran adrift on Fire Island shoal,
met her second husband
in a Brooklyn boarding house,
went with him to Puerto Rico
bore three more children, lost
her second husband, lived hard
for eight years in St. Thomas,
Puerto Rico, San Domingo, followed
the oldest son to New York,
lost her daughter, lost her "baby,"
seized the two boys of
the oldest son by the second marriage
mothered them -- they being
motherless -- fought for them
against the other grandmother
and the aunts, brought them here
summer after summer, defended
herself here against thieves,
storms, sun, fire,
against flies, against girls
that came smelling about, against
drought, against weeds, storm-tides,
neighbors, weasels that stole her chickens,
against the weakness of her own hands,
against the growing strength of
the boys, against wind, against
the stones, against trespassers,
against rents, against her own mind.
She grubbed this earth with her own hands,
domineered over this grass plot,
blackguarded her oldest son
into buying it, lived here fifteen years,
attained a final loneliness and --
If you can bring nothing to this place
but your carcass, keep out.
Scheme | XXAXXXBCDXEXXXXXXXXAXXXCXXXCXFXXGAFDX GXBXE XX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111 10010111 110001010101 1001001 11101010 101001 01111 111100110 1101001 101110101 101010 0010101 1111110 111101 0101011 1110110 110101010 0101111 10101010 10111 0101101010 11110 100111 0101010 001111 101010010 011011 1110 011011 11100101 101111 101011010 010101011 0101011 0101101 01011 01101011 11111011 110111 10101 0110111011 010101000 111110111 111011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,399 |
Words | 237 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 37, 5, 2 |
Lines Amount | 44 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 370 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 78 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 25, 2023
- 1:10 min read
- 118 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Dedication for a Plot of Ground" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/39655/dedication-for-a-plot-of-ground>.
Discuss this William Carlos Williams poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In