Prohibition Blues
America was caught up in the glitz and glamor of the roaring twenties. The Affluent became the influential and people strived to live in the lap of luxury. They dreamt of velvet and flappers and jazz clubs. The image became the most important thing, while substance faded into the background.
The fascination with an image was reflected in the writing of that time. Like a camera could capture an image of young people in dancing to jazz music, poets tried to capture stills with their writing. William Carlos Williams poetry was “meant to evoke pictures, images, and physical concretes” (Norton 4). His poems provide a static image; a red wheelbarrow in the rain beside white chickens. It is simply a picture, nothing more, nothing less.
“In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.”
“I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold”
-“This is Just to Say” by William Carlos Williams
