Lines

Lines - meaning Summary

Color and Ordinary Objects

William Carlos Williams compresses a single visual moment into two brief lines. The poem registers a precise color shift—"graygreen" to "bright green"—and links natural leaves with broken glass. The juxtaposition makes perception itself the subject: small, ordinary objects become startling when paired, so that color, texture, and fracture convey both stasis and suddenness. The poem asks readers to notice how attention reshapes the commonplace.