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Flowers by the Sea

Flowers by the Sea

By William Carlos Williams 1883–1963
When over the flowery, sharp pasture’s
edge, unseen, the salt ocean

lifts its form—chicory and daisies
tied, released, seem hardly flowers alone

but color and the movement—or the shape
perhaps—of restlessness, whereas

the sea is circled and sways
peacefully upon its plantlike stem

William Carlos Williams, “Flowers by the Sea” from The Collected Poems of William Carlos Williams, Vol 1:1909-1939. Copyright © 1938 by William Carlos Williams. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation.

Source: The Collected Poems of William Carlos Williams Vol 1:1909-1939 (New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1985)

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Poet William Carlos Williams 1883–1963

POET’S REGION U.S., Mid-Atlantic

SCHOOL / PERIOD Imagist

Subjects Nature, Landscapes & Pastorals, Trees & Flowers, Seas, Rivers, & Streams, Arts & Sciences

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