William Carlos Williams objected to symbols and even images. He
insisted on the thing in itself. He also hated Eliot's poetry for being
full of them, among other reasons. He called Eliot a subtle conformist.
"No ideas but in things" was Williams's poetic concept.
Nancy
>>> Chokh Raj <[log in to unmask]> 08/29/07 1:52 PM >>>
Dear Listers,
I love to share with you a poem by William Carlos Williams
-- to me a symbolic representation of The Bhagavad Gita's notion
of detachment, of detached action, and of the state of bliss
at "the still point of the turning world" (as Eliot put it).
Enjoy!
CR
-----
The inner freedom from the practical desire,
The release from action and suffering, release from the inner
And the outer compulsion, yet surrounded
By a grace of sense, a white light still and moving...
~ T.S. Eliot, 'Four Quartets'
THE BULL
It is in captivity --
ringed, haltered, chained
to a drag
the bull is godlike
Unlike the cows
he lives alone, nozzles
the sweet grass gingerly
to pass the time away
He kneels, lies down
and stretching out
a foreleg licks himself
about the hoof
then stays
with half-closed eyes
Olympian commentary on
the bright passage of days.
-- The round sun
smooth his lacquer
through the glossy pinetrees
his substance hard
as ivory or glass --
through which the wind
yet plays --
milkless
he nods
the hair between his horns
and eyes matted
with hyacinthine curls
~ William Carlos Williams
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