The Defective Record
The Defective Record - context Summary
Published in 1962
Published in 1962, William Carlos Williams's "The Defective Record" sketches a brief scene of river dredging and habitat loss, naming the human agent who profits. The poem registers how ordinary construction—cutting banks, dumping sand—erases wildlife and continuity. Its closing repetition of "to build a house on" implies relentless, indifferent suburban expansion. The poem reflects Williams's recurrent attention to everyday American change and its ecological cost.
Read Complete AnalysesCut the bank for the fill. Dump sand pumped out of the river into the old swale killing whatever was there before—including even the muskrats. Who did it? There's the guy. Him in the blue shirt and turquoise skullcap. Level it down for him to build a house on to build a house on to build a house on to build a house on to build a house on to . . .
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