A Woman in Front of a Bank

Reading of the Poem

Thesis

Williams creates a contrast between the false trust of support found in

banks with the strength of a woman

Sense pt. 1

Archetype (universally understood symbol) Columns

Strong foundation Holds important buildings up

Multiple allusions- Both to very influential men

Lenin- communist revolutionary and political figure in the USSR

Darwin- English naturalist, evolution

Sense pt. 2 Mood (feeling)

Tough; rugged; strong Women holding up the family Columns holding up a bank

Motif (re-acurring structure/contrast) Structure

Mid sentence breaks Contrast

Solid, rock vs. pink, baby carriage Hard words vs. softer words

Sense pt. 3 POW (Point of View)

3rd Person “Her”, “the woman”, “the bank”

Speaker (Narrator) Observer

Watching the two stand next to each other and comparing them

Theme (Main Idea) Women (the household) and Columns (the business

world) Tone (speaker’s attitude)

Very opinionated Of what women’s roles are

Maybe sexist Which sex had which roles in life

Senses

Columns x2 (if you count “pediments”, then 3)

Imagery- Uses references to very solid objects while describing the bank but uses softer language while describing the woman “The bank is a matter of columns” “her loosely arranged hair” “a pink cotton dress, bare legged”

Mid - Way Activity

In pairs or groups: Draw what is described to you in “A

Woman in Front of a Bank” Try to use exact lines / stanzas from the

poem for your drawing Be prepared to explain your art work!

We will then discuss the similarities and differences between the drawings afterward

Style Personification

“but the pediments sit there in the sun to convince the doubting of investments”

Metaphor/Hyperbole “upon the world stands, the world of finance, the only world”

Simile “’solid as rock’” “whose legs are two columns to hold up her face, like Lenin’s”

Irony/Cliché “’solid as rock’”

Personification The World of Finance

They say it stands or falls

Columns Holding up a bank / the financial world

Structure pt. 1 End-Stopped (Line ended with a . , - ;)

Lines 1, 2, 9, and 18 Period in the middle of a sentence (line 2)

Challenging convention of structure

Incremental Repetition (line repeated with some differences) “upon which the world stands” “the world of finance” “the only world”

Enjambment occurs between each stanza, creates 5 stanzas each 4 lines long

“like . convention,

unlike invention” Repetition

Columns is repeated twice; pediments is also stated, which is similar to the word columns

Alliteration “like Lenin's (her loosely arranged hair...)”

Structure pt. 2 Stanza #1

4 lines (7, 2, 5, 5 – syllables) Stanza #2

4 lines (5, 3, 6, 5 – syllables) Stanza #3

4 lines (5, 5, 4, 7 – syllables) Stanza #4

3 lines ( 6, 10, 6 – syllables) Stanza #5

4 lines (5, 4, 3, 7 – syllables)

Sound “Convention” , “Columns” “like Lenin’s (her loosely). . .”

“Convention” and “Invention” Rhyme Emphasis

Weakness of bank

Bank vs. Women

Strong View Columns hold up infrastructure Legs hold up woman which hold up the

family

Weak View Banks = weak (“solid as rock”) Women = weak “sex symbol (“bare legged”) “profusely blonde”

“dumb blonde”

End Activity Discuss, in your group, how the roles

of women have changed from W.C.W.’s lifetime (1883 – 1963) to now.

Flapper 1920s - Today