Death by William Carlos Williams

I like the poem Death by William Carlos Williams because this is a poem of how he deals with the death of his father. The poem seems to be a very dark and upsetting poem. What strikes me to this poem is the tone of this poem. Williams is describing how the dog won’t have to sleep on his potatoes (toes) anymore to keep them from freezing. “he’s dead the old bastard – He’s a bastard because there’s nothing legitimate in him any more he’s dead” (Williams pg. 295) I find that an unusually passage because there is “nothing legitimate in him anymore”, gives me the impression that Williams think with his fathers death that there will be no love for him anymore. The nothing in him could possibly mean the love in their father and son relationship. I feel that Williams is mad about his father dieing. That he is upset because Williams feels abandon. The last line “He’s sick-dead” could mean that he died sick or that Williams is sick that his father is dead.

---Richard Liptak