Winter Trees
by William Carlos Williams
All the complicated details
of the attiring and
the disattiring are completed!
A liquid moon
moves gently among
the long branches.
Thus having prepared their buds
against a sure winter
the wise trees
stand sleeping in the cold.
of the attiring and
the disattiring are completed!
A liquid moon
moves gently among
the long branches.
Thus having prepared their buds
against a sure winter
the wise trees
stand sleeping in the cold.
Discussion and Activities
- Students take turns reading the poem aloud.
- Discuss the poem's rhythm.
- Students look up the word "attire" if they don't know what it means. What is the attiring and the disattiring of the trees?
- Why does Williams describe the moon as liquid?
- How do the trees prepare their buds for winter?
- What makes the the trees wise?
- Identify any use of simile, metaphor, hyperbole, personification and idiom in this poem.
- Identify the poetic style used in this poem.
- Write a paragraph in your own words describing a scene in your memory that is similar to the scene Williams describes in his poem.