just another thought...

The young housewife (William Carlos Williams)

To go along with the stealth idea that was being batted around class, I couldn’t help but think that another representation of this poem could be that she was a prostitute and this was her client or a passerby. In the second verse it is stated she is “standing on a corner”, which normally has the implication that the woman in question is a prostitute. Also the house wife, being in her “negligee”, supports the idea of a sexual encounter. Then there is her calling out to other men, the ice-man, fish-man etc. Could that be her calling out to other prospects?

Subsequently, there is the comparison of her to a leaf and then the car crushes the leaves. This comparison followed by a violent action could be viewed as, Dr. Pound suggested, as the killing of her, or it could be viewed as male domination over her and the crushing of her spirit (which I guess is kind of the same thing). Also, she was not only compared to a leaf, but to a “fallen leaf”, which could be exchanged for a fallen woman. As for the car, it got away noiselessly which goes hand-in-hand with the idea of soliciting being a taboo subject. Finally, in regards to the husband, it never states he’s home, and if he wasn’t he would not be in the way of her prostitution.

Just another thought:)