Woman Walking
An oblique cloud of purple smokeacross a milky silhouetteof house sides and tiny trees--a little village--that ends in a saw edgeof mist-covered treeson a sheet of grey sky.
To the right, jutting in,a dark crimson corner of roof.To the left, half a tree:
--what a blessing it isto see you in the street again,powerful woman,coming with swinging haunches,breasts straight forward,supple shoulders, full armsand strong, soft hands (I’ve felt them)carrying the heavy basket.I might well see you oftener!And for a different reasonthan the fresh eggsyou bring us so regularly.
Yes, you, young as I,with boney brows,kind grey eyes and a kind mouth;you walking out toward mefrom that dead hillside!I might well see you oftener.
Words in this poem
- silhouette n.
- A representation of the outlines of an object filled in with a black color; a profile portrait in black, such as a shadow appears to be. [F.; -- so called from Etienne de Silhoutte, a French minister of finance in 1759, whise diversion it was to make such portraits on the walls of his apartments.]
- jutting a.
- Projecting, as corbels, cornices, etc.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Woman Walking 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, Woman Walking, in Al Que Quiere! (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51997, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/williams-al-que-quiere/woman-walking.html, id L01093.
Form and metre
Woman Walking is 28 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 72%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.4 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 32% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
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 --ABBA- smoke · silhouette · treesA · villageB · edgeB · treesA · sky
- 3 -AA--------- is · againA · womanA · haunches · forward · arms · them · basket · oftener · reason · eggs · regularly
- 4 A--A-- iA · brows · mouth · meA · hillside · oftener
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| An oblique cloud of purple smoke | 8 | ·˘/··/˘· |
| across a milky silhouette | 8 | ˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| of house sides and tiny trees-- | 7 | ····/˘· |
| a little village-- | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| that ends in a saw edge | 6 | ······ |
| of mist-covered trees | 5 | ··/˘· |
| on a sheet of grey sky. | 6 | ······ |
| To the right, jutting in, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| a dark crimson corner of roof. | 8 | ··/˘/˘·· |
| To the left, half a tree: | 6 | ······ |
| --what a blessing it is | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| to see you in the street again, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| powerful woman, | 5 | /˘˘/˘ |
| coming with swinging haunches, | 7 | /˘·/˘·· |
| breasts straight forward, | 4 | ··/˘ |
| supple shoulders, full arms | 6 | /˘/˘·· |
| and strong, soft hands (I’ve felt them) | 7 | ······· |
| carrying the heavy basket. | 8 | /˘˘·/˘/˘ |
| I might well see you oftener! | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| And for a different reason | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| than the fresh eggs | 4 | ···· |
| you bring us so regularly. | 8 | ····/˘˘˘ |
| Yes, you, young as I, | 5 | ····· |
| with boney brows, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| kind grey eyes and a kind mouth; | 7 | ······· |
| you walking out toward me | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| from that dead hillside! | 5 | ···/· |
| I might well see you oftener. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
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.