Tract - Analysis

Introduction

William Carlos Williams's "Tract" adopts a colloquial, exhortatory voice that instructs "my townspeople" how to perform a funeral. The tone is at once practical, ironic, and mildly confrontational, shifting between mockery of ceremonial affectation and sincere insistence on plain, communal dignity. The poem moves from concrete proposals about a hearse to broader moral demands about how a community should share grief.

Relevant background

Williams, an American modernist and physician, often favored everyday speech and close attention to ordinary life; this civic, anti-formalist stance colors the poem's critique of professionalized, ostentatious rituals. The reference to French funerary practice gestures to comparative, democratic rites rather than elite convention.

Main theme: Communal dignity over theatrical ritual

The poem repeatedly contrasts showy, professional ceremony with a plain, collective approach. Lines like "For Christ's sake not black—nor white either - and not polished!" and the insistence on a "rough plain hearse" argue that dignity comes from simplicity and shared labor, not from polished surfaces or the undertaker's performance.

Main theme: Authenticity and personal memory

Williams urges replacing artificial symbols with items that mark a life: "Some common memento is better, / something he prized and is known by: / his old clothes - a few books perhaps". This emphasis on personal artifacts foregrounds remembrance grounded in the deceased's individuality rather than generic wreaths or hot-house flowers.

Main theme: Democratic sharing of grief

The speaker repeatedly admonishes social distance: the driver should be "Low and inconspicuous," mourners should "Walk behind - as they do in France," and grief should be shared openly: "Do you think you can shut grief in? ... Share with us". The poem frames mourning as a communal responsibility, a leveling practice against social pretension.

Imagery and recurring symbols

Key images—the weathered hearse "like a farm wagon," the absence of glass, the refusal of "hot house flowers"—work together to valorize the rough, tactile, earthbound over the polished and insular. Glass, in particular, becomes a symbol of separation and spectacle: the injunction "Knock the glass out!" asks that no barrier remain between community and corpse, between life and the elements. The hearse itself, with optional "gilt wheels" on an otherwise plain dray, suggests a compromise: modest dignity, not ostentation.

Ambiguity and open question

The speaker's rhetorical intensity blurs satire and earnestness: is this an ideal prescription or a prophetic rebuke of current mores? The poem invites readers to ask whether communal rituals can truly overcome class distinctions or whether the injunctions are primarily moral provocations.

Conclusion

"Tract" uses plain diction, concrete detail, and insistent address to argue for funerary practices that honor individuality and communal solidarity rather than professionalized display. Its force lies in coupling modest, tactile images with moral urgency, leaving readers with a clear, democratic vision of how a community might dignify loss.