William Carlos Williams

Danse Russe
I'm going to analyze the poem Danse Russe, written by William Carlos
Williams, out of several perspectives.
The title itself refers to a traitional Russian ance. There's an unusual
correlation between the title an the poem! ancing only appears in
line ", up until that moment, it's but a preparation for the real meaning
behin the story.
The narrator's ance is escribe in an entirely grotes#ue way as it
conveys the moves of a na$e man in front of a mirror. The latter
statement coul be analyze out of i%erent points of view! &rstly, he
coul be embar$ing on the 'ourney of self(iscovery, attempting to
fully e)cept himself for all that he is. There are no religious references
in the poem, therefore he's not trying to measure up to *o's
e)pectations regaring his personality.
There are various repetitions in the poem+ mostly of the wors if an my. The
fre#uent usage of if is very suggestive, reassuring the reaer that the
situation introuce to us is completely hypothetical. ,is goo moo brees
from the alone time he's spening in his room at night, after his family is
sleeping an the curtains are rawn. ,e's also -singing softly- in an attempt
not to wa$e his wife an two babies up.
,e, however sings about loneliness, which is a giant contraictory, because
the act of singing ma$es him happy while he's in fact reciting the wor
-lonely-. .y the en of his song, the melancholy seems to be reverse,
because he says -I am best so/-, but it gives the reaer a melancholic feeling.
The repetition of the wor -my- is also very important. It implies that the
narrator runs the house, he's the owner, thus he can o whatever he wants.
0till, he prefers to ance while's alone, when noboy can see him. That
means he's in some ways guare an only feels safe for as long as he's on
his own.
,is general tone an the escriptive images ma$e us thin$ that this is an
ongoing process in a way, that it's a summary of all the things that ma$e him
happy.
1n the other han, it's as if he's trying to prove a point to someone+ if he
really was happy, he wouln't have to list all the reasons why. That implies
self(oubt.
There's a pause before the last two lines, which coul mean two things. It
coul give the reaer some time to process the things written in the poem or
it coul inicate some sort of ambiguity! the #uestion in the last two lines in
irrelevant an escribes an impossible situation, because he's waiting for
feebac$, although he ma$es sure noboy ever sees him ance.
The &gures of speech he uses ma$e the te)t more colorful an grotes#ue
2-an the sun is a 3ame(white isc-4.
In conclusion, I li$e the poem, because there's an important hien message
in the te)t that I in't see at &rst an I ha to analyze the whole poem to
tac$le it.