Between Walls

Between Walls - context Summary

Spring and All (1923)

Published in 1923 in Spring and All, Williams's short poem locates attention in the back wings of the hospital, a setting drawn from his medical practice. Its spare lines portray a bleak, uncultivated patch where nothing grows—cinders and the gleam of broken green glass. The poem frames a clinical urban scene as material for close observation, showing how everyday professional surroundings yielded Williams’s poetic subject matter.