William Carlos Williams

Poet William Carlos Williams once stated, “Crude symbolism is to associate emotions with natural phenomena such as anger with lightning, flowers with love…” (Llanas 57). This quote is an excellent example of Williams’ style of writing; his poetry represents the idea of Imagism excellently. Although his poetry was once referred to as “over-looked,” and “misunderstood,” later in his life, many aspiring writers looked to him and his writing for inspiration (Llanas 57-58). William Carlos Williams’ writing represents to the reader that ordinary life can be beautiful.

William Carlos Williams was born on September 17th, 1883 to Raquel Helene Hoheb Williams and William George Williams in Rutherford, New Jersey. His mother was of Puerto Rican descent, while his father was born in England and raised in the West Indies. His mother, Raquel, was an artist, and his father was a businessman. His love and interest for art and languages started at home, where his parents spoke both French and Spanish around the house (Llanas 47). Despite his interest in the artistic field, his parents pushed him to become a doctor, so in 1906, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a medical degree. Literature and medicine were his two occupations throughout the rest of his life (Llanas 47).

While Williams was enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania, he befriended fellow poet Ezra Pound. Pound was one of the major influences on Williams’ style of writing; after Pound reviewed one of his pieces, Williams ended up breaking free of the traditional style of writing expected (Llanas 49). The style that Pound turned Williams to was known as Imagism, which is known as one of the most influential movements in American history. Imagism is the idea of c...

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...nce misunderstood, but now can be read and understood in its full meaning; although, being Imagism, technically has no meaning at all.

Works Cited

Conarroe, Joel. "William Carlos Williams." Six American poets: an anthology. New York: Random House, 1991. . Print.

Cone, Temple. "'The Red Wheelbarrow'." In Kimmelman, Burt, and Temple Cone, eds. The Facts

On File Companion to American Poetry, vol. 2. New York: Facts On File, Inc.,

2007.Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 11 May 2014 .

Griffin Llanas, Sheila. Modern American Poetry. Enslow Publishers, Inc., 47-56. Print.

Matterson, Stephen. "On "This is Just to Say"." Modern American Poetry. Kent State University

Press. Web. 11 May 2014. .