William carlos williams
William carlos williamsWilliam Carlos Williams was one of the greatest American Poets of the 20th century whose illustrious career spanned half a century. From his beginnings as a pediatrician in Rutherford New Jersey to his Pulitzer Prize in 1963 William Carlos Williams made a lasting impact on American poetry as well as literature. He was an inspiration to many, and in his clear and profound use of contemporary language and environment was truly a poetic voice in contemporary America.
Williams was born to a British businessman and a French-Puertorican mother in 1883. He attended the Horace Mann School in New York and later graduated from Pennsylvania University Medical School. After opening his private practice Williams began his career as both a respected Pediatrician and as a prolific writer and poet.
While attending the University of Pennsylvania Williams became close friends with Ezra Pound. Though Williams disagreed with Pound when it came to poetry it was his relationship with Pound that opened the door for him into the world of contemporary poetry. Williams unlike Pound and other Imagists did not go abroad but remained at home and became one of the strongest supporters of the American Nativist movement. In fact it was Pound who published Williamss' first collection of poems (Poems) in 1909.
Williams was closely involved with the Imagist movement and it was in Imagist publications that his first works of poetry appeared. It was his relationship with the Imagist movement that taught Williams the necessity of bringing out new styles and techniques of composition that would defer sharply from the poetic styles of the 1800's. Imagism was a literary movement that focused on evoking emotions through clear, simple images presented in common language. There could be no clearer representation of this than in Williams's...
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