Re-read "To Elsie" (WCW, Coll Poems, pp. 217-19) before class begins,
and ponder the final stanza:
No one
to witness
and adjust, not one to drive the car
If it is your interpretation of the poem that the image of the
driverless car is on the whole a positive thing, sit on the windows
side of the room. Be prepared to state your position in relation to
the rest of the poem. What is WCW saying about America?
If it is your interpretation of the poem that the image of the
driverless car is on the whole a negative thing, sit on the door side
of the room. Be prepared to state your position in relation to the
rest of the poem. What is WCW saying about America?
If it is your interpretation of the poem that the image of the
driverless car is a wholly and thoroughgoingly ambiguous thing--or if
you cannot decide what you think about it--sit in the back middle of
the room. Be prepared to state your position in relation to the rest
of the poem. What is WCW saying about America? And if in the course
of discussion you find yourself agreeing with door or window side,
please MOVE.
When considering Williams's attitude toward the cultural (including
ethnic and racial) melange that he finds both fearful and
alluring in Elsie, you might want to consider the story of the
legal problem of the Golden Hill
Paugussetts of Connecticut, a Native American tribe that found
itself in the position of having to certify its authenticity legally--
raising the question of what it is to be "native" and what kind
of question that is.
POETRY
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Last modified: Wednesday, 18-Jul-2007 16:29:04 EDT