Invitation
You who had the senseto choose me such a mother,you who had the indifferenceto create me,you who went to some painsto leave hands off mein the formative stages,--(I thank you most for thatperhaps)but you whowith an iron head, first,fiercest and with strongest lovebrutalized me into strength,old dew-lap,--I have reached the stagewhere I am teaching myselfto laugh.Come on,take a walk with me.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- thank n.
- A expression of gratitude; an acknowledgment expressive of a sense of favor or kindness received; obligation, claim, or desert, or gratitude; -- now generally used in the plural. [AS. Þanc, Þonc, thanks, favor, thought; akin to OS. thank favor, pleasure, thanks, D. & G. dank thanks, Icel. Þ\'94kk, Dan. tak, Sw. tack, Goth. Þagks thanks; -]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Invitation is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Book of Poems, Al Que Quiere!, Project Gutenberg ebook #51997; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Carlos Williams, Invitation, in Al Que Quiere! (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51997, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/williams-al-que-quiere/invitation.html, id L01131.
Form and metre
Invitation is 19 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.1 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 47% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 A-AB-B------------B senseA · mother · indifferenceA · meB · pains · meB · stages · that · perhaps · who · first · love · strength · lap · stage · myself · laugh · on · meB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| You who had the sense | 5 | ····· |
| to choose me such a mother, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| you who had the indifference | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| to create me, | 4 | ·˘/· |
| you who went to some pains | 6 | ······ |
| to leave hands off me | 5 | ····· |
| in the formative stages,-- | 7 | ··/˘˘/˘ |
| (I thank you most for that | 6 | ······ |
| perhaps) | 2 | ˘/ |
| but you who | 3 | ··· |
| with an iron head, first, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| fiercest and with strongest love | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| brutalized me into strength, | 7 | /˘····· |
| old dew-lap,-- | 3 | ··· |
| I have reached the stage | 5 | ····· |
| where I am teaching myself | 7 | ···/˘·/ |
| to laugh. | 2 | ·· |
| Come on, | 2 | ·· |
| take a walk with me. | 5 | ····· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.