Between Walls

the back wings
of the

hospital where
nothing

will grow lie
cinders

In which shine
the broken

pieces of a green
bottle

William Carlos Williams

I hated poetry in elementary school, junior high, and just started enjoying it the second half of high school (and loved it once I met Leslie, a poet).

Imagine a lesson plan on William Carlos Williams.

Objectives:
SWBAT dissect and analyze a poem

Student will work in pairs to dissect the poem and find glorious hidden meanings in this mysterious, haunting piece; students will create Powerpoint storyboard unlocking the code revealing what the author meant.

Read the poem again. (And again, and again if it resonates with you, otherwise don't waste your time.)

High school can kill poetry, but that's obvious, and an easy target.

What would I do if I were Superintendent of the World?

Read the poem. Rest. Don't think too much. Read it again. Rest. Don't think too much, at least not with your cortex. Rest some more. Now, if you want to read it again, go read it again.

Don't worry about how it might affect you. Be aware when it does, but don't force it.

If you don't want to read it again, don't. It will lie on a shelf somewhere waiting for the few of you who will want to read it a few decades later.


High school kills science the same way.

Gravity is like a William Carlos Williams poem. It just is.

Let the kids drop things for a minute, rest, for 5 minutes, rest, for a half hour. Rest.

Remind them about the planets spinning around the sun, about tides, about the shape of galaxies. With lots of rest, of course.

Then, maybe, just maybe, throw this at them, not because it explains gravity (it does not), but because it has faithfully predicted for us what this mysterious force will do anytime, anywhere, as far as we know.



You don't have to know the equation to grasp the concept; indeed, a lot of kids know the equation but don't spend a whole lot of time thinking about gravity. If they did, you'd hear "Awesome!" a lot more than you hear "Will this be on the test?"

Yes, this is Newtonian physics, and call Williams' words Newtonian poetry. Save quantum physics and Thomas Pynchon for college--neither has much to do with day to day living.

The gravity gif was lifted from Hyperphysics at Georgia State University here.
You cannot "steal" a Williams poem.