Transformations are a major way Williams approaches nature in this poem. What he describes is "just" the changing of the seasons, but he makes it into a really big event. The world is changing, transforming itself from brown to green, from dead to living, from cold and windy to calm and warm. As Williams puts it: "the profound change has come upon them." It’s the big shift in the poem, so it’s definitely worth underlining here.
Questions About Transformation
- Do the words in the poem change along with the scenery? How does Williams’s language reflect and describe the idea of transformation?
- If the changes of spring are happening underground, how does the speaker see them? The magic of poetry? X-Ray vision? You decide.
- If the world is being transformed in this poem, does that change the speaker, too? Do you get the sense that he or she is undergoing a kind of rebirth?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
By the end of this poem, spring has changed everything, including the speaker.