L.A.R.T: Fragonard and Williams

Your thighs are appletrees
whose blossoms touch the sky.
Which sky? The sky
where Watteau hung a lady's
slipper. Your knees
are a southern breeze—or
a gust of snow. Agh! what
sort of man was Fragonard?
—as if that answered
anything. Ah, yes—below
the knees, since the tune
drops that way, it is
one of those white summer days,
the tall grass of your ankles
flickers upon the shore—Which shore?—
the sand clings to my lips—Which shore?
Agh, petals maybe. How
should I know?
Which shore? Which shore?
I said petals from an appletree.

-William Carlos Williams

Today I am taking a look at William Carlos Williams poem, "Portrait of a Lady" and his reference of Fragonard (a Rococo artist) and his allusion to his piece, "The Swing". Williams poem reflects the mysterious and charming sexuality that is whispered in Fragonard's light, airy, and almost innocent depiction of a "lady", who acts much more promiscuously than any lady should. I feel that the man who is underneath the woman in the painting would be reciting these awe-inspiring words to the woman upon the swing. Williams almost could be mocking the painting and his improper way of viewing a woman as he states, "agh, what kind of man was Fragonard?". Was he truly one to capture all the flighty sides of woman, not the quiet soft definition of thighs and knees, not the womanly figure, but the common associations of the womanly spirit during the high class Rococo period. We almost have contrasting views. Fragonard personifies and stereotypes the woman, and Williams see's the woman's flesh, being, and spirit as a whole. The woman's nurturing fruitful body and a woman's comforting pleasing presence without the association of infidelity and controversy, which much women are succumbing to during the themes and styles of the Rococo period.