William Carlos Williams Poem

¶ … Proletarian Portrait" is a poem by William Carlos Williams that presents a brief snapshot of a working class woman, a proletarian. She is bogged down by two stigmas: class and gender. Because the reader has no other cues of the woman's identity, it is also possible that she is not white, either. Being of the non-dominant culture would make the woman an emblem of the underclass, presuming the setting is in North America or Europe. Williams's poetic portrait depicts the harrowing effects of labor in the capitalist system, sending a strong Marxist message warning about problems such as alienation. Williams uses poetic devices including irony and imagery, in order make strong social commentary about alienation and class conflict. The capitalist wage structure has beaten the dignity out of the woman featured in "Proletarian Portrait." A sense of heaviness, loneliness and sadness pervades the imagery in "Proletarian Portrait," allowing Williams to achieve social commentary with unusual structure, irony, and imagery.

One of the ways Williams gives the poem a heavy feeling is by describing the woman as being "big" in the first line. The reader is therefore introduced to the woman right away as a heavy creature who is burdened or symbolically weighed down by her work. There is no contrasting imagery of lightness, which makes the short poem seem even heavier. Because one of the focal points or motifs of the poem is a shoe, the reader's attention is drawn to the ground. Similarly, the setting is on the street and the reader's eye is also drawn to the ground when the woman is "toeing / the sidewalk." The narrator then describes what is inside the woman's shoe, and the poem ends with the image of the nail inside. Being continually drawn to the ground and the woman's shoe makes "Proletarian Portrait" have a heavy feeling.

Furthermore, the heaviness of the ground and foot imagery is coupled with symbolism related to the nail. The woman takes off her shoe to get a nail out of it. Thus, the central image of the poem raises the question of why there was a nail inside her shoe. Usually, people step on nails and they are stuck in the outer sole of the shoe. In this case, the woman has a nail inside her shoe. The imagery of the nail inside the shoe is both symbolic and literal. Because the reader knows that the woman is a proletarian worker, it can be inferred that the nail got there in her workplace. She is still wearing her apron, which also signifies that she either just got off work or is on a break. The nail inside the shoe might also serve a symbolic function. She pulls it out of her insole, meaning that the nail was hidden. Symbolically, the woman is hiding her pain and keeping it inside herself. The symbolism of keeping something inside also has a heavy feeling. Her pain and suffering are weighing down the woman. At the end of the poem, the narrator also states that the nail "has been hurting her" for what seems like a long time.

In fact, the poet uses the "ing" form of the verb throughout "Proletarian Portrait" to impart a sense of heaviness and endless sadness. The "ing" form of the verb suggests ongoing action, not something that happens once but something that continually occurs over and over. Williams uses the "ing" form in this poem, because his portrait of the woman represents all proletarian workers. The capitalist exploitation of labor is an ongoing phenomenon seemingly with no end, which is why the "ing" form of the verbs work well. "Proletarian Portrait" only has five stanzas, and three of those stanzas end with an "ing" verb, including "standing," "toeing, and "looking." The last stanza includes the word "hurting." Ongoing action makes the reader feel as tired as a woman, who is weighed down by her work. The fact that the woman is described as being "big" also adds to the sense of heaviness, sadness, and oppression that accompany the continued exploitation of workers.

The woman is described as being "young" in the first line, but by the end of the poem, she seems like an old lady. Williams achieves this paradox and juxtaposition of young and old imagery using irony. The poet also makes a powerful point: capitalist labor exploitation turns a young person into an old one, robbing her of her youth. The overall impact and feel conveys the sense that this woman has been beaten down for years. She seems much older than she is. The fact that she wears an apron and stockings also conveys imagery of someone who is old. Most of all, the woman is described as being "bareheaded." Bareheaded is a term that could refer to baldness, which would suggest that the woman has lost her hair / If that is the case, then the otherwise "young" woman would look old. If the woman is bareheaded in the sense that she is not wearing a hat, then the same sense of irony would also be present. Old women are frequently depicted as wearing hats. By claiming that she is "bareheaded," the narrator suggests that she usually wears a headdress but is not at the moment. Furthermore, William juxtaposes the words "young" and "bareheaded," placing them adjacent to each other in the first line of the poem. The placement of the words together creates an oxymoron.