“Spring Storm” was originally published in Williams’s 1921 poetry collection Sour Grapes. The poem is representative of William Carlos Williams’s early style and artistic focus. Although Williams is nearly always mentioned in reference to his brief association with Imagism, he rejected the movement early on in his career, choosing instead to focus on using imagery and clear, direct language to illustrate scenes from everyday life. As a poet, Williams was interested in “uniquely American” verse, and “Spring Storm” exemplifies many of the key concepts that Williams uses to define American poetic voice. Williams describes with electric lyricism an occurrence that is a common and recognizable part of everyday life, a spring storm, and rather than using language to complicate his subject, he instead uses it to emphasize its simple beauty with a keen directness of thought. “Spring Storm” focuses on the image of a spring storm cutting through the depths of winter to announce the coming spring: a season of warmth, hope, and new life. On its surface, “Spring Storm” can be read as a direct reflection on the changing of the seasons, but Williams also imbues the poem with symbolic undertones that allude to seasons of life, cycles, and the inevitability of change.

Poet Biography

Born in 1883 in Rutherford, New Jersey, William Carlos Williams grew up in a home deeply influenced by his parents’ Caribbean backgrounds. His father William George Williams was born in England but grew up in the Dominican Republic, and his mother Raquel was of French origin and grew up in Puerto Rico; the family spoke Spanish at home, and English was Williams’s second language. Williams was educated in New Jersey and Paris, and he entered medical school at the University of Pennsylvania after completing his basic studies at the Horace Mann School in New York City. Williams published his first book of poems in 1909 while also completing multiple medical internships and taking on advanced studies in pediatrics. Williams married his wife Florence Herman in 1912, and the couple settled in New Jersey, going on to have two sons.

Williams is one of many poets whose literary career was secondary to his primary career path. Williams worked as a pediatric physician for many years and worked on his poetry at night. Early in his writing career, he befriended other literary greats of the period, including Ezra Pound and H.D., and Williams became heavily involved in the Imagist movement. Though his style later changed, today Williams’s work is often mentioned in connection with Imagism. Williams was critical of the Modernist style popularized by T.S. Eliot—Eliot’s poetry, full of highly specific references and intellectual allusions, was very different from Williams’s simple, image-based style. In later life, Williams mentored several renowned poets, including Allen Ginsberg. After a heart attack and a series of strokes, Williams died at his home in Rutherford in 1963 when he was 79 years old.

Poem Text

The sky has given over

its bitterness.

Out of the dark change

all day long

rain falls and falls

as if it would never end.

Still the snow keeps

its hold on the ground.

But water, water

from a thousand runnels!

It collects swiftly,

dappled with black

cuts a way for itself

through green ice in the gutters.

Drop after drop it falls

from the withered grass-stems

of the overhanging embankment.

Williams, William Carlos. “Spring Storm.” 1921. Poets.org.

Summary

“Spring Storm” opens with a description of a sky that has “given over / its bitterness” (Lines 1-2). Williams then directly states that “given over / its bitterness” means that it has been raining all day “as if it would never end” (Line 6). The poem’s title alludes to the time of year and the weather; however, Williams provides more specific details in the body of the poem. Although it is spring, it must be early in the season because “Still the snow keeps / its hold on the ground” (Lines 7-8). Despite the continued presence of the snow, the season is trying to turn from winter to spring, as evidenced by the “water, water / from a thousand runnels” (Lines 9-10) that is attempting to overtake the snow and ice still on the ground. The water “collects swiftly, / dappled with black,” (Line 11) and “cuts a way for itself / through green ice in the gutters” (Lines 12-13). The cutting of the ice in the gutters and the description of the water moving quickly indicates the heaviness of the rain and makes it clear that spring has come; while winter is often denoted by descriptions of snow and ice, spring is commonly associated with heavy rains. The ice gives way to a wet season that, when coupled with warming, eventually leads to the beautiful new life of late spring. “Drop after drop” (Line 14) the water “falls / from the withered grass-stems” (Lines 14-15). Williams again references the turn of the season by indicating the “withered” grass-stems of the previous year. The grass has withered in the cold of winter, but it is clear that the water from the spring storm is the first sign of the revivification of the oncoming spring.