A Sort of a Song
A Sort of a Song - fact Summary
Statement of Poetic Doctrine
This short poem is Williams’s explicit statement of his poetic doctrine, published in 1944 in The Wedge. It insists that meaning arises from concrete objects and experience—"No ideas but in things"—and uses imperative voice and image (the saxifrage splitting rock) to model that theory. The poem links everyday things and human concerns, urging invention grounded in perception rather than abstract generality.
Read Complete AnalysesLet the snake wait under his weed and the writing be of words, slow and quick, sharp to strike, quiet to wait, sleepless. -- through metaphor to reconcile the people and the stones. Compose. (No ideas but in things) Invent! Saxifrage is my flower that splits the rocks.
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