A Deep Look Inside

I admire the words in Carlos Williams’s poem “The Descent.” There is something so inspiring and raw about the statements he makes that you have to truly swallow each statement as if you were taking in each breath. His first statement “The descent beckons as the ascent beckoned” establishes the power of memory over the external world. At first I wanted to interpret this as meaning that memory is separate from reality, but I feel that in memory there is truth, and a lot of the times what we expect out of life is what ends up being the disappointment. This idea is supported by the statement that “Williams reaches a point at which the external world no longer seems to provide an adequate correlative for his desires and expectations” (Rapp 3). The events that simultaneously followed each other resulted in his perception of the world. The essay describes how he lost the control that he had over the things in his life and he began to feel as if “the whole world seemed to be threatened with dissolution” (9). In this kind of state it is natural to see why he looked to a new source for inspiration. Therefore in looking inside himself he establishes this relationship between his own intimate thoughts and the ideas of society. What makes Williams’ poetry fresh, new, and truly modern is how he appreciates the human mind and body.
In this poem particularly he emphasizes the achievement of man through his own mind. “Memory is a kind of accomplishment, a sort of renewal, an initiation” (3-7). He praises the mind (memory) because of its openness and rawness. The mind is so precious because in entering it, as the reader does in this poem, you are initiated in a process in which the author is revealing his own thoughts to you. So, it’s as if you are being welcomed into the unknown. And not only is it a privilege to reach this point, but he almost seems to assure that the results/or what you find in entering the mind will be rewarding because “the spaces it opens are new places” and “their movements are toward new objectives” (7, 12). The mind is so refreshing because it offers a different path to life, towards ideas. It is untouched by the world and it is in your own possession. It is constantly coming up and exploring new trains of though, both conscious and “unrealized” (9).
With this sense of a new way of thinking apart from societal expectations, the mind is an alternative to a world in which defeat and love is denied. He claims that “a world lost, a world unsuspected, beckons to new places” (17-19). It is as if he is unsatisfied with the results of the world and he is now exploring a new dimension in which hope is renewed. He states that “the descent made up of despairs and without accomplishment realizes a new awakening” (33-36). The descent here takes a new context because it literally follows its definition, a downward inclination. The definition is paralleled with the ideas of despair and no accomplishment which are negative attitudes, but hope is renewed within the memory. The descent associated with the memory is different because it is a movement down into the mind which results in what is “endless and indestructible” (44). Through this descent Williams is “elevated to a life of the spirit in which he is inwardly more secure than ever before” (17-18). Therefore, whatever has been denied to you and whatever disappointments you have had in life, the mind offers a place in which you can run to and never face such troubles again.