Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

William Carlos Williams’s "Divertimiento" is a playful, dynamic poem that demonstrates his ability to mix humor, energy, and a keen observation of human behavior. The title, which translates from Spanish to "diversion" or "entertainment," sets the tone for the poem, suggesting lightheartedness and an escape from the mundane.

The opening lines address a "miserable little woman / in a brown coat," who is admonished to "quit whining." This direct, almost brusque tone is characteristic of Williams’s voice—engaging the reader or addressee with immediacy and candor. The speaker’s hand is then extended in a gesture of camaraderie or mischief, inviting this figure into an imaginative escapade. The phrase "We'll skip down the tin cornices / of Main Street" conjures an image of carefree movement through an urban landscape, blending whimsy with the industrial imagery of "tin cornices." The mundane details of the setting are transformed into a playground for irreverent joy.

The poem’s rhythm mirrors the proposed skipping and leaping, with short, exclamatory bursts such as "Hop clear of the bank!" and "A pin-wheel round the white flag-pole." The physicality of these actions imbues the poem with a sense of motion and vitality, drawing the reader into its playful momentum. The imagined frolic challenges the stiffness and monotony of the woman’s perceived misery, offering an antidote in the form of childlike freedom and spontaneity.

The poem shifts gears with the introduction of Johann Sebastian Bach. The speaker promises to sing "a thing to split your sides" about the famed composer, emphasizing the humor of his prodigious life: "the father of music, who had / three wives and twenty-two children." This anecdote is delivered with a mix of admiration and amusement, underscoring Bach’s almost mythic productivity both in his music and his personal life. The humor here serves to elevate the poem’s sense of exuberance while also offering a subtle critique of the weighty reverence often afforded to great artists. By framing Bach’s life within this playful context, Williams humanizes the composer, transforming him into a figure as vibrant and full of life as the skipping companions.

Structurally, the poem is free verse, its lines varying in length and rhythm to mirror the spontaneous, carefree quality of the imagined adventure. Williams avoids strict meter or rhyme, allowing the poem’s energy to flow naturally. The language is conversational and accessible, characteristic of Williams’s approach to poetry, which sought to capture the immediacy of everyday speech and experience. The absence of punctuation further enhances the poem’s sense of unbridled motion, as if the speaker’s thoughts and actions are tumbling out without pause.

Beneath its lighthearted surface, the poem can also be read as a commentary on the power of imagination and art to transform ordinary or unhappy circumstances. The woman’s brown coat and initial "whining" suggest a drab, constricted existence, but the speaker’s invitation offers a way out—through movement, humor, and storytelling. The act of skipping, singing, and laughing becomes a metaphor for the liberating potential of art, a central theme in Williams’s work.

In "Divertimiento," Williams celebrates the small, unexpected joys of life, weaving together humor, physicality, and an appreciation for the absurd. The poem’s vivid imagery and dynamic tone invite the reader to embrace the playful and transformative possibilities of imagination, making it a delightful testament to the vitality of the everyday.

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