The Artist
The Artist - meaning Summary
Grace in an Ordinary Moment
The poem describes a brief, unexpected burst of grace: a shabby, ordinary man suddenly performs an entrechat, startling the speaker's mother and prompting her spontaneous applause. The scene is domestic and intimate; the wife's practical interruption underscores how the moment of art is fleeting and unrepeatable. Williams frames beauty as emergent in everyday life, observed within his own family circle and noted with quiet wonder.
Read Complete AnalysesMr T. bareheaded in a soiled undershirt his hair standing out on all sides stood on his toes heels together arms gracefully for the moment curled above his head. Then he whirled about bounded into the air and with an entrechat perfectly achieved completed the figure. My mother taken by surprise where she sat in her invalid's chair was left speechless. Bravo! she cried at last and clapped her hands. The man's wife came from the kitchen: What goes on here? she said. But the show was over.
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