Comparison between William Carlos William’s Portrait of a Lady and Ezra Pound’s Portrait D’une Femme

Comparison between William Carlos William’s Portrait of a Lady and Ezra Pound’s Portrait D’une Femme

Early poets utilized their skills to describe artistic images in detail. A portrait could be described passionately with an intention of arousing readers’ feelings. On the other hand, other poets opted for metaphoric description of vivid images that do not exist in real life. Whatever the case, most of them succeeded in passing the intended message across. While Portrait D’une Femme by Ezra Pound and Portrait of a Lady by Williams Carlos Williams focus on a description of feminine images, in-depth analyses reveal a sharp contrast between the two.

Portrait D’une Femme is a poem title that hints the reader of a poetic description of woman’s portrait for subsequent 30 poetic  lines. However, reading the first few lines is enough for an individual to learn that the portrait is not clear and straightforward.  A reader will only learn about a ‘femme’ and her mind. The ‘femme’ likeness is comparable to the Sargasso Sea but is a long-time London resident. On the other hand, ‘Portrait of a Lady’ is a description of a paradoxical self-portrait. The poet utilizes renaissance convention of the lady's beauty as depicted in the portrait. The speaker's intention is to describe feminine physical beauty as opposed to Portrait D’une Femme’s speaker.

Portrait of a Lady echoes a dialogue between of a male and a female. There is a possibility that the dialogue is imaginary as man reflects on woman’s reaction to his praise and admiration of her sexual appeal and loveliness.  In contrast, Portrait D’une Femme kicks off with a series of imagery related to the sea. The imagery is metaphorical and regards woman’s interactions with people. The speaker hints that people whom the woman interacts with are impressive—possibly thinkers, artists or writers. The woman gains ideas, gossips and knowledge, as opposed to Portrait of a lady where men gains from women’s beauty.