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Antoinette H. Hailey B. Cassidy C.

“A Woman in Front of a Bank”. Thesis:. William Carlos Williams compares a woman with a bank to suggest supportive foundations in the world are overlooked for weaker support. Antoinette H. Hailey B. Cassidy C. Overall Interpretation.

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Antoinette H. Hailey B. Cassidy C.

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  1. “A Woman in Front of a Bank” Thesis: William Carlos Williams compares a woman with a bank to suggest supportive foundations in the world are overlooked for weaker support. Antoinette H. Hailey B. Cassidy C.

  2. Overall Interpretation • The Bank acts as a world supporter, when in reality it’s weak. • - “solid/as a rock” (6-7) • - The bank is a matter of columns (1) • The world focuses around money and the bank for support. • - but the pediments/sit there in the sun (3-4) • - upon which the world/stands, the world of finance,/the only world (7-9) • Women are looked to as weak, when in reality they’re strong. • - a pink cotton dress, bare legged/and headed (13-14) • - whose legs/are two columns to hold up/her face (14-15) • The world overlooks women (as maternal figures). • - while/rocking a baby carriage/back and forth stands a woman (10-12) • - (her loosely/arranged hair profusely blond) (16-17)

  3. Sense: Meaning and Language • Speaker: outside source • Point of View: 3rd person • Mood: annoyed/distainful • - “solid/as a rock” (6-7) • Tone: negative/mocking (about banks) • -upon which the world/stands, the world of finance,/the only world (7-9) • - matter of columns (1) • Diction: • - “legs”, “columns” and “face”, “pediments” compare bank structures to that of a woman (1- 3) and (14-15) • Repetition: • - “world” x3, “woman” x3, “bank” x2

  4. Purpose/Effect Williams wants to show how he views the bank system. He sees that all people care about is money and how banks are the center of the world and what the world revolves around. By comparing the parts of a woman with parts of a bank’s structure Williams wants to show how similar they actually are. By repeating “world” and “woman” three times and the word “bank” twice, Williams wants to show that women or people are more important in terms of the world than banks.

  5. Purpose/Effect Sense: Meaning and Language Continued By adding these allusions, Williams wants to show the importance of two figures in history. Instead of discussing a building or money, he chooses to talk about the structure of two people. He adds these particular people because they both had two completely different impacts on history. He wants to show the reader that the world doesn’t just involve around banks. There are people that are actually changing the world and doing something. • Allusion: • Lenin • Darwin • whose legs/are two columns to hold up/her face, like Lenin’s (her • loosely/arranged hair profusely blond) orDarwin’s (14-18) • Theme: weakness • - to convince the doubting of/investments (5-6)

  6. Senses: Imagery and Symbols • Imagery: • -Body • -Structures • -Money • Symbols: • Bank: wants of people • - “investments” (6) • - matter of columns (1) • Woman: moral support and needs of people • -rocking a baby carriage/back and forth (11-12)

  7. Purpose/Effect The bank is a matter of columns,like . convention,unlike invention; but the pedimentssit there in the sun to convince the doubting ofinvestments “solidas a rock” —-upon which the worldstands, the world of finance, the only world: Just there,talking with another woman whilerocking a baby carriageback and forth stands a woman in a pink cotton dress, bare leggedand headed whose legsare two columns to hold upher face, like Lenin’s (her loosely arranged hair profusely blond) orDarwin’s and there youhave it:a woman in front of a bank. Williams has these images to again that people have more of an importance. The body parts are mentioned more because it belongs to a living being not an inanimate object like banks. The images dealing with money are least shown because it’s not important. Money only gives you what you want now what you need. For the symbols, the bank represents the wants of the world. Williams wants to point out that banks only give people money that they can buy things with. The woman symbolizes the needs because that’s more important in life. Williams wants to say that objects and money will come and go but human support will always be there.

  8. Style: Poetry Techniques Purpose/Effect • Juxtaposition: • - back and forth (12) • - like . convention,/unlike invention (2-3) • Convention: patterns of behavior • Metaphor: • whose legs/are two columns (14-15) • Personification: • pediments/sit there in the sun (3-4) • world/stands (7-8) • Simile: • “solid as a rock” (6-7) • Irony: • the world of finance,/the only world (8-9) • “solid as a rock” (6-7) Williams uses these poetry techniques to describe the bank more than the woman. By using “back and forth” it suggests the giving and taking the bank does. He wants to suggest that the banks do the same things and that it isn’t strong or supportive for people to revolve their world around.

  9. Purpose/Effect Structure: Form, Organization, and Pattern Williams has the poem look orderly and structure when first looked at by having 4 lined stanzas and having the title be the last line. He wants to show that, like a bank, it looks structured, but on the inside, it’s disorganized and not perfect. The random punctuation marks show a not orderly structure and challenges convention like how the bank is described as. The colon separates the two comparisons, so the reader knows they are being described as separate. • Stanza: • 4 lined stanzas • Punctuation: • random period • like . convention (2) • colon • - world: Just there (9) • quotation • “solid/as a rock” (6-7) • parenthesis • -(her loosely/arranged hair profusely blond) • Repetition: • - “woman in front of a bank” x2

  10. Sound: Musicality and Auditory Techniques Purpose/Effect Williams uses repetition to have the reader focus on the word “world” and “woman” as an importance to the whole poem. Having only one rhyme in the poem also draws attention to the words. Williams wants to draw attention to these words and phrases in order to show weakness. • Repetition: • “world” x3 • “woman” x3 • Rhyme: (internal rhyme) • “convention” and “invention” • Alliteration: • - “like”, “Lenin’s”, “loosely”

  11. A Woman in Front of a Bank • Similar Poems: • “The Eyeglasses” • “A Portrait of the Times” • “Peasant Wedding” • Historical Connection: • Williams lived through the great depression

  12. Conclusion Based on how Williams compares the bank to the woman, it can be concluded that the banks are weak to look up to for support and the only real strong support are people. Even though they are looked at as weak because they don’t provide people with the things they want.

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