The Most Inspirational Poet: William Carlos Williams

Less is More

The early 1900’s was a time of truly inspirational writers whose imprints are still left in our current language and the ways in which we write. Among one of those authors, was a man named William Carlos Williams. Born in 1883, Williams is among one of the four people acclaimed to have created modernism poetry along with a type of poetry called imagism. Imagism is a form of writing in American poetry that sought clarity of expression through the use of precise images. Being able to write pieces of poetry and only use images to paint in the readers mind was not an easy task now or then. However as time went by Williams began to drift away from the ways of the poetry known as imagism, nonetheless William Carlos Williams was an imagist

Ezra Pound. Though year’s later masterpieces like Danse Russe are being read and seeing the beauty that lies beneath it. Williams did branch out his ways of writing because he believed that other authors such as Pound, and Elliot, whom he disliked, who he felt were too attached to European culture and traditions. Continuing to experiment with new techniques of meter and lineation, Williams sought to invent an entirely fresh—and singularly American—poetic, whose subject matter was centered on the everyday circumstances of life and the lives of common people.

Another piece of work that showed the true beauty and simplicity that lied behind imagism was the poem The Red Wheelbarrow, the poem is composed of 8 lines a total of 16 words. Now for a many authors that amount of words may compile of a sentence, or so many words that don’t make a difference here or there. The magic behind the ideals of imagism is being able to clearly emphasize your point while painting an

“Is the man crazy, how is this message ever going to be received with such little writing?” One may look deeper only to discover the magnificence behindhand hidden in Williams’ simplicity. The word upon shows a way of formality that the word “on” wouldn’t be able to express. In the second stanza, the indefinite article, "a," does not exactly make this red wheelbarrow generic, but like the "upon," the article allows for a hint of transcendence: this is not just the wheelbarrow, any old piece of yard or barnyard machinery; it's a wheelbarrow that can stand for something beyond itself. The color red usually signifies warmth, yet the author has signified that it is raining making it to be cold. Standing along side of the white chicken, the audience comes to the conclusion that colors are more than simply put colors in the poem but hold much more value in understanding the true meaning of the