Light Hearted William
Light hearted William twirledhis November moustachesand, half dressed, lookedfrom the bedroom windowupon the spring weather.
Heigh-ya! sighed he gailyleaning out to seeup and down the streetwhere a heavy sunlightlay beyond some blue shadows.
Into the room he drewhis head again and laughedto himself quietlytwirling his green moustaches.
Words in this poem
- bedroom n.
- A room or apartment intended or used for a bed; a lodging room.
- gaily adv.
- Merrily; showily. See gaily. [From Gay.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Light Hearted William is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sour Grapes: A Book of Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #35667; 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, Light Hearted William, in Sour Grapes (1921), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #35667, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/williams-sour-grapes/light-hearted-william.html, id L01189.
Form and metre
Light Hearted William is 14 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.1 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 79% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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.
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Light hearted William twirled | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| his November moustaches | 7 | ·˘/˘/·˘ |
| and, half dressed, looked | 6 | ···˘·˘ |
| from the bedroom window | 6 | ··/·/˘ |
| upon the spring weather. | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Heigh-ya! sighed he gaily | 6 | ····/˘ |
| leaning out to see | 5 | /˘··· |
| up and down the street | 5 | ····· |
| where a heavy sunlight | 6 | ··/˘/· |
| lay beyond some blue shadows. | 7 | ·····/· |
| Into the room he drew | 6 | ······ |
| his head again and laughed | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| to himself quietly | 6 | ·˘//˘˘ |
| twirling his green moustaches. | 7 | /˘··/·˘ |
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.