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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SYMPATHETIC PORTRAIT OF A CHILD, by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS Poet Analysis Poet's Biography
First Line: The murderer's little daughter
Last Line: That darts along her smile?
Subject(s): Children; Childhood
First Line: The murderer's little daughter
Last Line: That darts along her smile?
Subject(s): Children; Childhood
The murderer's little daughter
who is barely ten years old
jerks her shoulders
right and left
so as to catch a glimpse of me
without turning round.
Her skinny little arms
wrap themselves
this way then that
reversely about her body!
Nervously
she crushes her straw hat
about her eyes
and tilts her head
to deepen the shadow --
smiling excitedly!
As best as she can
she hides herself
in the full sunlight
her cordy legs writhing
beneath the little flowered dress
that leaves them bare
from mid-thigh to ankle --
Why has she chosen me
for the knife
that darts along her smile?
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THE THREE CHILDREN by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN
CHILDREN SELECTING BOOKS IN A LIBRARY by RANDALL JARRELL
COME TO THE STONE ... by RANDALL JARRELL
THE LOST WORLD by RANDALL JARRELL
A SICK CHILD by RANDALL JARRELL
CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS
ON THE DEATH OF FRIENDS IN CHILDHOOD by DONALD JUSTICE
THE POET AT SEVEN by DONALD JUSTICE
A CELEBRATION by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS