The Young Housewife

William Carlos Williams

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1916

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Symbols & Motifs

The Curb

Throughout the poem, the speaker focuses on tangible and intangible barriers. These appear in the form of objects like the house’s “wooden walls” (Line 3) and the curb to which the young housewife comes and stands. The curb is a type of limit. It is the edge the young housewife reaches before she enters a world beyond her domestic life. The curb is the place to which the young housewife comes “to call the ice-man, fishman and stands” (Line 6), so it becomes the place where her domestic life and the outside world meet.

The curb is also where the young housewife appears at her most vulnerable. The speaker describes the young housewife as she stands on the curb, stating she is “shy, uncorseted, tucking in / stray ends of hair” (Lines 7-8). At the curb, the young housewife’s vulnerability is fully displayed, primarily to the men she calls to and the speaker. After the young housewife’s vulnerability is revealed at the curb, the curb becomes a place of transformation. The transformation, however, is not literal. The transformation is figurative and occurs because the speaker states, “I compare her / to a fallen leaf” (Lines 8-9). Here, the speaker continues objectifying the young housewife, and the word “fallen” (Line 9) implies a sinful nature. The poem also transforms at this point, shifting away from the speaker’s focus on the young housewife and creating distance and internalizing the speaker’s experience.

Leaves

After observing the young housewife’s vulnerable state, the speaker states “I compare her / to a fallen leaf” (Lines 8-9). When leaves separate from a tree, they begin decomposing and lose their color and texture. They begin drying up and become brittle, turn brown, and eventually die. The speaker provides no details about the housewife’s perceived age other than that she is “young” (Line 1). The “fallen leaf” (Line 9) also represents the young housewife’s separation from the rest of the world since her existence is limited beyond the confines of the “wooden walls of her husband’s house” (Line 3).

In the final stanza, the poem concludes with the speaker passing by the young housewife and “her husband's house” (Line 3). The speaker is isolated from the young housewife because the speaker is in their car. The speaker is attuned to the “noiseless wheels” (Line 10) of the car passing “with a crackling sound over” (Line 11) “dried leaves” (Line 12). The dried leaves are obviously fallen ones littering the speaker’s route. They are symbolic because the speaker drives over them without thought. The speaker describes the leaves as “dried” (Line 12), meaning they are dead and useless. The dead leaves therefore become a representation of what the speaker thinks the young housewife will transform into as she ages and endures years of marriage and isolation.

The Car

In the car, the speaker passes by the young housewife and “her husband’s house” (Line 3). The speaker states, “I pass solitary in my car” (Line 4). The speaker gives no description of the car other than it is “my car” (Line 4), which establishes the speaker’s ownership of the vehicle. The speaker’s usage of the possessive pronoun “my” (Line 4) establishes the speaker’s self-determination, freewill, independence, and autonomy. The acknowledgement of these elements begins distancing the speaker from the young housewife. Thus, the car is representative of the speaker’s isolation from the young housewife. Since the speaker describes being “solitary” (Line 4) in the car, the commonality established between the speaker and the housewife is their momentary solitary state in each of their environments as well as their isolation. The car is a barrier between the speaker and the young housewife. Because of its confines, the speaker cannot enter the young housewife’s situation.

As the poem concludes, its setting returns to the speaker’s isolation in the car. This echoes the isolation the speaker shared when they stated, “I pass solitary in my car” (Line 4). The speaker states that the “noiseless wheels of my car” (Line 10) pass over “dried leaves” (Line 12). The car represents not only isolation and separation at this point; it also represents the speaker’s power over the environment and circumstances and their ability to control their own destiny but not the young housewife’s environment, circumstances, or destiny.