The crowd at the ball game

The crowd at the ball game

Original Text
William Carlos Williams, Spring and All ([Paris]: Contact, 1923): 93-95. PS 3545 .I544S7 1970 Victoria College Library
XXVI
1The crowd at the ball game
2is moved uniformly
3by a spirit of uselessness
4which delights them --
5all the exciting detail
6of the chase
7and the escape, the error
8the flash of genius --
9all to no end save beauty
10the eternal --
11So in detail they, the crowd,
12are beautiful
13for this
14to be warned against
15saluted and defied --
16It is alive, venomous
17it smiles grimly
18its words cut --
19The flashy female with her
20mother, gets it --
21The Jew gets it straight -- it
22is deadly, terrifying --
24Revolution
25It is beauty itself
26that lives
27day by day in them
28idly --
29This is
30the power of their faces
32the crowd is
33cheering, the crowd is laughing
34in detail
35permanently, seriously
36without thought

Notes

23] Inquisition: perhaps the Roman Catholic tribunal for the exposition and persecution of heretics, only finally abolished in the early 19th century. Back to Line
31] solstice: June 22, a point on the ecliptic at which the sun is further north from the celestial equator. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1923
Publication Notes
The Dial 75.2 (August 1923)
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 2000.
Rhyme
Form