William Carlos Williams

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Gendered Voices and Speech

The poem stages a brief dialogue about who may speak and why. One speaker claims that being women allows writing and consciousness unswayed by sensuality, implying a gendered source of truth. The other questions whether that claim is mere propaganda. The final line resists theoretic labels by insisting on singular presence and selfhood. The poem thus negotiates voice, gendered generalization, and individual authenticity in speech.

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First he said: It is the woman in us That makes us write– Let us acknowledge it– Men would be silent. We are not men Therefore we can speak And be conscious (of the two sides) Unbent by the sensual As befits accuracy. I then said: Dare you make this Your propaganda? And he answered: Am I not I-here?

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