W.C. Williams, "To Waken An Old Lady"

I think most people take William Carlos Williams’ famous dictum, “No ideas but in things,” to mean a preference for the physical, the image, over abstract ideas and generalizations. That seems to be the founding principle of The Imagist Movement.

I don’t know if this is odd or wrong, but I also hear “No ideas but in things” as encouragement to see things in isolation, creatures or objects explored completely and more or less alone, in relief, against backdrops that are secondary or insignificant. I think of the dragonfly here yesterday as an example.

So here is yet another cardinal, quite alone and very loud in a treetop. What a braggart he was. What a horny pitcher of woo. And I think he was an adolescent—that’s morning sun on him, yet he is as close to rusty-brown-orange as he is to red.

I don’t think he’s one of the birds William Carlos Williams had in mind in his fine poem, “To Waken an Old Lady,” but I’m not going to wait for winter and snow to include this poem and photograph.

To Waken An Old Lady by William Carlos Williams

Because I can hear you nagging about my bad timing and lack of patience, I’ll re-post the song sparrow, who's more suited to Williams' poem and who also seems alone and prominent against his backdrop. But to me the backdrop might be as interesting as the bird; it flatters him.


Bird Songs and Sound of Song Sparrow

If the birds are “things,” what ideas might they create or involve? If Williams or you wrote a poem about one, what idea might he or you be driving at? Would either bird create the same kinds of ideas without the backdrops?

To Waken An Old Lady by William Carlos Williams