The Young Housewife

Part One:

In his poem The Young Housewife, William Carlos Williams uses a series of images to capture a fleeting moment in time, an emotion of admiration and desire. As a man who has endured a few heartbreaks and regrets in life, I identified with the contrite and “solitary” speaker who watches a struggling woman whom he used to love (4). The poem’s main focus is this young woman; newly married, who was most likely involved with the speaker in the past. In the first stanza, Williams gives the reader a glimpse of the woman in "her husband's house" (3). His description is somewhat voyeuristic as he depicts the woman “at ten A.M. […] in negligee behind / the wooden walls,” but yet somehow he is still able to see her (1, 2-3). Whether he is literally seeing her move about the house in her undergarments or if it is just in his imagination is unknown to the reader. Although this seems purely lustful, I believe the speaker has more innocent feelings than are apparent. He sees her, the woman whom he once treasured and desired, living a mundane life with an ungrateful spouse. I can imagine that this would be quite difficult to watch. Having witnessed past sweethearts make imprudent decisions and live consequently unhappy lives, I know how it can be unsettling. The speaker “pass[es] solitary in [his] car,” feeling empathy for her, but unable to lend aid (4). This is a very relatable situation that most ex-lovers will face; a sense of distance and a resulting feeling of helplessness.

As the poem goes on, the speaker and reader alike grow more empathetic toward the woman because the idea that she is unappreciated by her husband becomes more apparent. First, it is unusual that she is still clad in sleepwear, possibly lingerie, so late in the...

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...d in second stanza. It ends with “curb” if to emphasize the boundary between the woman and the outside world (5). The only public encounter the woman receives is when she “call[s] the ice-man, fish-man” to purchase her family’s fares on occasion. Additionally, the transition from line 7 to line 8 is noteworthy. "Shy, uncorseted, tucking in / stray ends of hair,” could be more of a sexual innuendo than it would initially appear (7-8). The break after “tucking in” creates a separation of the verb and its subject. This could tempt the reader to assume that what the woman is actually "tucking in" is her breast, such as after sex, rather than her hair (7-8). A differing thought arises though with the next line as it reveals an element of vanity on her part. She wants to look attractive. The line break catches the tension surrounding housewife's wish to appear desirable.