FREE ESSAY ON "TRACT" BY CARLOS WILLIAMS

"TRACT" BY CARLOS WILLIAMS

GILT ON A SAD HEIGHT
The poem "Tract" by William Carlos Williams, on the surface, is a criticism of an
ostentatious funeral (Geddes 37). However, the poem does have a strong hidden message.
"Tract" could very well be a direct criticism of Dylan Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle Into
That Good Night"(Geddes 123) and any other poem like it. In his poem, William Carlos
Williams criticizes poets like Thomas for using too many stylistic formalities, thereby
obscuring their poetry's true literal content. He also scolds them for placing themselves
into the poetry when, in his view, there really is no place for them there. Finally, he
ends with an offering of recourse for all the poets like Thomas.
On the surface, the narrator in "Tract" is criticizing an overly ornate funeral. His
purpose is to establish a new idiom in which cultural inhibitions are discarded. This
purpose can also be applied to the poems' hidden meaning; a criticism of Dylan Thomas'
work. When the narrator refers to his "townspeople," what Williams might be implying is
"my fellow poets." He is addressing a small community; the poets of the world, and in
this case, Dylan Thomas. 
In Dylan Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night," there is a very distinctive
structure of repeated lines and rhythms called a villanelle (Shaeffer). William Carlos
Williams' poem strives to do away with such convention. His "design for a hearse" is
really a design for a poem, which should be "not black- nor white and not
polished...[but] weathered like a farm wagon- with gilt wheels." With this, Williams
might be saying that there should be no specific design; we should not have villanelles.
This corresponds with his philosophy to reject poetic formalism (Geddes 34). It could
also be a comment on using the common elements to create poetry. This would follow
Williams' philosophy that the subject matter of poetry should be centered on the everyday
circumstances of life (poets.org). 
According to Williams, a villanelle is a form of "gilt" that is there for decoration
alone. This gilt can be applied to the wheels of the hearse or to a small portion of the
poem, if so desired, by the poet without over-embellishment. This point is further
emphasized with the line " no upholstery, phew! And no little brass rollers and small
easy wheels on the bottom." These features refer to other stylistic conventions used by
some poets. The narrator in "Tract" insists that "on this [a rough dray] the coffin
should lie by its own weight." This can be interpreted to say that the poem should be
judged as good or bad solely on the basis of its literal meaning and content; not on
pretence and frills injected into the art. Because of its rhyme scheme and syntax, Dylan
Thomas' poem seems to be elegant. If the sophisticated style were removed, what would the
poem say? What kind of poem would it be without the rhyme scheme? These are questions
asked by William Carlos Williams' "Tract."
The word tract, like the poem, also has a dual meaning. A tract could be a religious
ceremony, such as a funeral, or it could be a medical term for a biological structure
that serves as a way of passage. It is a very fitting title for a poem that criticizes
peoples' way of passage from one life to the next. The poem stresses that a funeral
should be dedicated to the deceased and not to those in attendance. It is wrong for the
driver to draw attention from the guest of honor, as it is wrong for the poet to put
himself into the poem. In the villanelle, it is apparent that Thomas puts himself into
the poem: the reader knows that the poem is about Thomas' father, without having to read
a history or an interpretation. The line "and you my father, there on a sad height"
informs the reader that Thomas' father is sick in bed. In the context of "Tract," Thomas
is the driver who should "take off that silk hat!" There is "...no place for him [Dylan
Thomas] at all- up there...." On the surface, "Tract" criticizes the driver for drawing
attention away from the deceased. Covertly, Williams is scolding Thomas for putting
himself in the poem about the death of his father when he has no business drawing
attention from the event that is the death of his father. 
The purpose of the last stanza is to provide advice and a method of recourse for the
younger or less experienced poets. When Williams writes, "walk behind- as they do in
France, seventh class," he could be saying that the poem should speak for itself and does
not need to be read by the author, which is often the case with Dylan Thomas (Smith).
"Sit openly to the weather as to grieve" could imply that a poet should succumb to
failure because it will make him a stronger poet (" money in your pockets.") 
There is an implied parent-child relationship here. All parents want their children to be
successful and to avoid the same pitfalls that they have encountered. Williams suggests
for the younger poets to humbly seek advice from the elders to avoid suffering in the
same ways. At the end of the poem, Williams tells the younger poets, "Go now I think you
are ready." This is Williams (the parent) saying to Dylan Thomas (the child):
- I have taught you what you need to know, now go and use what I have taught you.
According to William Carlos Williams, Dylan Thomas injects pretence into his poetry to
obscure its meaning and disguise it as something that it is not. He also inserts his
identity into his poetry. "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" is therefore, in the
eyes of William Carlos Williams, a great example of how not to write a poem.
Work Cited
Geddes, Gary. 20th Century Poetry & Poetics: Fourth Edition
Oxford University Press. Toronto, 1996
Dylan Thomas. Carmen Smith. thinkquest.org 11/15/2000. 
*http://library.thinkquest.org/3187/thomas.html*
William C. Williams. Poets.org. 11/15/2000
*http://www.poets.org/poets.cfm?prmID=120 *
Rage, Rage. Frank Beck. Poets.org. 11/15/2000
* http://www.poets.org/poets.cfm?prmID=1159 *
Do Not Go.... Peter Shaeffer. 11/15/2000
*http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/38.html*
Bibliography
about a thousand words. Grade A. a look at how the poem Tract is a criticism of thomas'
Do not go gentle into that good night.