Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO WAKEN AN OLD LADY by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS

Poem Explanation Poet Analysis

First Line: OLD AGE IS
Last Line: PIPING OF PLENTY.
Subject(s): LABOR & LABORERS; OLD AGE; WORK; WORKERS;
Old age is
a flight of small
cheeping birds
skimming
bare trees
above a snow glaze.
Gaining and failing
they are buffeted
by a dark wind --
But what?
On harsh weedstalks
the flock has rested,
the snow
is covered with broken
seedhusks
and the wind tempered
by a shrill
piping of plenty.



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