Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

DAWN by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS

Poem Explanation Poet Analysis

First Line: ECSTATIC BIRD SONGS POUND
Last Line: SONGS CEASE.
Subject(s): DAWN;
Ecstatic bird songs pound
the hollow vastness of the sky
with metallic clinkings --
beating color up into it
at a far edge, -- beating it, beating it
with rising, triumphant ardor, --
stirring it into warmth,
quickening in it a spreading change, --
bursting wildly against it as
dividing the horizon, a heavy sun
lifts himself -- is lifted --
bit by bit above the edge
of things, -- runs free at last
out into the open --! lumbering
glorified in full release upward --
songs cease.



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