The Observed Reality of Spring

While more traditional forms of poetry, such as narrative or lyrical poetry, often use Springtime to represent rebirth and renewal, Williams’s poem complicates these connotations of Spring. Rather than depending on these typical literary tropes related to the season, the speaker of “Spring and All” focus on describing the visual reality of Spring as it appears directly before him. Even the very first line of the poem calls into question classical connotations of Spring by mentioning the destination of the “contagious hospital” (1). While the idea of “hospital” does carry some associations with rejuvenation, rest, and healing, its mention with the idea of contagion places more emphasis on the association of medical settings with decay, disease, and even death. From even its first lines, the Springtime setting of Williams’s poem becomes connected with ideas opposite its traditional connotations.

The sights the...