Spring Storm

“Spring Storm” was originally published in Williams’s 1921 poetry collection Sour Grapes. The poem is representative of William Carlos Williams’s early style and artistic focus. Although Williams is nearly always mentioned in reference to his brief association with Imagism, he rejected the movement early on in his career, choosing instead to focus on using imagery and clear, direct language to illustrate scenes from everyday life. As a poet, Williams was interested in “uniquely American” verse, and “Spring Storm” exemplifies many of the key concepts that Williams uses to define American poetic voice. Williams describes with electric lyricism an occurrence that is a common and recognizable part of everyday life, a spring storm, and rather than using language to complicate his subject, he instead uses it to emphasize its simple beauty with a keen directness of thought. “Spring Storm” focuses on the image of a spring storm cutting through the depths of winter to announce the coming spring: a season of warmth, hope, and new life. On its surface, “Spring Storm” can be read as a direct reflection on the changing of the seasons, but Williams also imbues the poem with symbolic undertones that allude to seasons of life, cycles, and the inevitability of change.