Queen-Anne’s-Lace
Her body is not so white as
anemone petals nor so smooth—nor
so remote a thing. It is a field
of the wild carrot taking
the field by force; the grass
does not raise above it.
Here is no question of whiteness,
white as can be, with a purple mole
at the center of each flower.
Each flower is a hand’s span
of her whiteness. Wherever
his hand has lain there is
a tiny purple blemish. Each part
is a blossom under his touch
to which the fibres of her being
stem one by one, each to its end,
until the whole field
is a white desire, empty, a single stem,
a cluster, flower by flower,
a pious wish to whiteness gone over—
or nothing.
The poem begins a little off key. The first two words of the first line establish the subject of the poem, a woman's body. But also within the first line Williams eschews the sort of hyperbole that typically adorns a poem of this sort. Instead of saying her body is like something, he's saying it's not quite something. The second line begins with what her body is being compared to, which is anemone petals. It's not as white or as smooth as these.
The third line begins to reverse the direction of the movement. The narration ascribes also the quality of remoteness to the anemone, and continues in the same vein as the preceding lines, saying her body does not possess this quality. Or in other words, her body is accessible.
The fourth through sixth line, provides us with a more fitting figuration for her body. A field of the Wild Carrot. In contrast with the delicacy and over-refined nature of the Anemone and it's remoteness, her body is abundant like the wild carrot.
It's noteworthy that Williams was a practicing doctor for much of the time he wrote poetry. It's natural to assume that some of this work would have been informed by this. Instead of an artificial harmony and perfection Williams metaphor is one of imperfection and vitality. Instead of an anemone with it's classical allusions and aesthetics, William's sees the struggle of life in nature. As any medical doctor of his time would be aware. Here the Wild Carrot's success is the grasses loss.
In line seven Williams assuages any doubts as to the whiteness of her body, but again reminds us of it's lack of purity. The first line introduces us to her body that's not pure white. Here again after reminding us that it is white, he goes on to say it possesses purple moles as well. The poem again shies away from any objective claims of perfection or purity.
Another more subtle distinction to be found within the poem is not merely the type of flower her body is compared to, but for lack of a better word, the magnification of it. The poem eschews a comparison of her body with a petal, and instead compares it with a field of them Instead of purity, homogeneity, and minuteness. The poem emphasizes, diversity, heterogeneity, and abundance. A flower becomes only a "hands span" of her whiteness. From previous lines we know that it isn't pure. There are tiny purple maculations. So to say that a flower is a hands span of her whiteness is not to attribute to her completeness, perfection and purity. The opposite of a state of absolute, could be construed as a state of process. Which is an accurate comprehension of any living body or state of affairs in our world.
Wherever his hand has lain there's a tiny purple blemish. Here again it's not pure white. But one can imagine the sort of skin that bruises easily. The sort of wan and palid skin some women possess. Who "he" is, is never addressed within the poem itself. Again the next line is a study of contrasts, where before there was a purple blemish, now each is a blossom under his touch. It's as if the poem is trying to convince us that the imperfection is the perfection itself.
He goes on to address the fibers of her being. It may be appropriate to draw upon our knowledge of the author again, my opinion of what's conveyed by "the fibers of her being" is an informed figuration based upon a medical understanding of dermatomes.(uir.ulster.ac.uk/24144/1/Dermatome_session.doc) It conveys the idea of stems and surfaces of tactile sensation grouped in clusters. Continuing on with the metaphors of blossoms which would be the sensation of touch.
Here's a quick link to help you with understanding the interpretation. The sensations of her being stemming, and becoming sensitive to her skin, until the whole field is a white desire, empty, a single stem.
The movement now is away from multiplicity and heterogeneaty, back to "whole"ness, "white"ness, and "empty"ness. Although I doubt Williams was a Buddhist or informed by Buddhist phenomenology, his description and understanding of emptiness is in accordance with certain Buddhist concepts of emptiness. Another way of construing the contrast between purity and impurity, would be the absolute and relative. The absolute and pure have similar qualities in that, they're unattainable in any definite sense. While everything in our world is impure or relative. That is, it all occurs within a field of cause and effect. Nothing that is the subject of cause and effect can be said to be independent in the definite sense.
Up to this point in the poem, Williams has eschewed all absolute depictions of her body. He notices the little differences, the purple moles, the abundance and other qualities. Whenever approaching purity or absoluteness he shies away though.
But the tone is changing, here he describes her body as a single stem. It's coalescing into one, the way a field of flowers might.. It's empty in the sense that there is nothing to compare it to. Definitions depend on qualities of attribution. If the seamlessness of her body is such, that one part can't be differentiated from another, it's in a sense empty. It's not one thing, because a thing only means something in comparison to something else. In a way what he's saying is that it isn't relative to anything else. There's the hint that a process of immersion is taking place. Although from the beginning of the poem, the narration has been trying to avoid ideal attributions, his descriptions are beginning to become homogeneous, pure, empty, absolute, and all.
The subtlety of the poem is that it is an experience of this process of coalescing, and not just the willy nilly attribution of perfection and ideal. The sincerity is conveyed through the intimacy and authenticity in which the narration approaches the subject of her body.
anemone petals nor so smooth—nor
so remote a thing. It is a field
of the wild carrot taking
the field by force; the grass
does not raise above it.
Here is no question of whiteness,
white as can be, with a purple mole
at the center of each flower.
Each flower is a hand’s span
of her whiteness. Wherever
his hand has lain there is
a tiny purple blemish. Each part
is a blossom under his touch
to which the fibres of her being
stem one by one, each to its end,
until the whole field
is a white desire, empty, a single stem,
a cluster, flower by flower,
a pious wish to whiteness gone over—
or nothing.
The poem begins a little off key. The first two words of the first line establish the subject of the poem, a woman's body. But also within the first line Williams eschews the sort of hyperbole that typically adorns a poem of this sort. Instead of saying her body is like something, he's saying it's not quite something. The second line begins with what her body is being compared to, which is anemone petals. It's not as white or as smooth as these.
The third line begins to reverse the direction of the movement. The narration ascribes also the quality of remoteness to the anemone, and continues in the same vein as the preceding lines, saying her body does not possess this quality. Or in other words, her body is accessible.
The fourth through sixth line, provides us with a more fitting figuration for her body. A field of the Wild Carrot. In contrast with the delicacy and over-refined nature of the Anemone and it's remoteness, her body is abundant like the wild carrot.
It's noteworthy that Williams was a practicing doctor for much of the time he wrote poetry. It's natural to assume that some of this work would have been informed by this. Instead of an artificial harmony and perfection Williams metaphor is one of imperfection and vitality. Instead of an anemone with it's classical allusions and aesthetics, William's sees the struggle of life in nature. As any medical doctor of his time would be aware. Here the Wild Carrot's success is the grasses loss.
In line seven Williams assuages any doubts as to the whiteness of her body, but again reminds us of it's lack of purity. The first line introduces us to her body that's not pure white. Here again after reminding us that it is white, he goes on to say it possesses purple moles as well. The poem again shies away from any objective claims of perfection or purity.
Another more subtle distinction to be found within the poem is not merely the type of flower her body is compared to, but for lack of a better word, the magnification of it. The poem eschews a comparison of her body with a petal, and instead compares it with a field of them Instead of purity, homogeneity, and minuteness. The poem emphasizes, diversity, heterogeneity, and abundance. A flower becomes only a "hands span" of her whiteness. From previous lines we know that it isn't pure. There are tiny purple maculations. So to say that a flower is a hands span of her whiteness is not to attribute to her completeness, perfection and purity. The opposite of a state of absolute, could be construed as a state of process. Which is an accurate comprehension of any living body or state of affairs in our world.
Wherever his hand has lain there's a tiny purple blemish. Here again it's not pure white. But one can imagine the sort of skin that bruises easily. The sort of wan and palid skin some women possess. Who "he" is, is never addressed within the poem itself. Again the next line is a study of contrasts, where before there was a purple blemish, now each is a blossom under his touch. It's as if the poem is trying to convince us that the imperfection is the perfection itself.
He goes on to address the fibers of her being. It may be appropriate to draw upon our knowledge of the author again, my opinion of what's conveyed by "the fibers of her being" is an informed figuration based upon a medical understanding of dermatomes.(uir.ulster.ac.uk/24144/1/Dermatome_session.doc) It conveys the idea of stems and surfaces of tactile sensation grouped in clusters. Continuing on with the metaphors of blossoms which would be the sensation of touch.
Here's a quick link to help you with understanding the interpretation. The sensations of her being stemming, and becoming sensitive to her skin, until the whole field is a white desire, empty, a single stem.
The movement now is away from multiplicity and heterogeneaty, back to "whole"ness, "white"ness, and "empty"ness. Although I doubt Williams was a Buddhist or informed by Buddhist phenomenology, his description and understanding of emptiness is in accordance with certain Buddhist concepts of emptiness. Another way of construing the contrast between purity and impurity, would be the absolute and relative. The absolute and pure have similar qualities in that, they're unattainable in any definite sense. While everything in our world is impure or relative. That is, it all occurs within a field of cause and effect. Nothing that is the subject of cause and effect can be said to be independent in the definite sense.
Up to this point in the poem, Williams has eschewed all absolute depictions of her body. He notices the little differences, the purple moles, the abundance and other qualities. Whenever approaching purity or absoluteness he shies away though.
But the tone is changing, here he describes her body as a single stem. It's coalescing into one, the way a field of flowers might.. It's empty in the sense that there is nothing to compare it to. Definitions depend on qualities of attribution. If the seamlessness of her body is such, that one part can't be differentiated from another, it's in a sense empty. It's not one thing, because a thing only means something in comparison to something else. In a way what he's saying is that it isn't relative to anything else. There's the hint that a process of immersion is taking place. Although from the beginning of the poem, the narration has been trying to avoid ideal attributions, his descriptions are beginning to become homogeneous, pure, empty, absolute, and all.
The subtlety of the poem is that it is an experience of this process of coalescing, and not just the willy nilly attribution of perfection and ideal. The sincerity is conveyed through the intimacy and authenticity in which the narration approaches the subject of her body.
It's of interest to note the flower that Williams chooses to write about. Queen Anne's Lace has a multiplicity of petals above the stem, that don't form a single flower but countless tiny ones above the stem. However from a distance it all looks like one flower. It's an excellent metaphor for the substance of the poem.
