William Carlos Williams was born on September 17, 1883, in Rutherford, New Jersey. A physician as well as a poet, he received his medical training at the University of Pennsylvania, where he met Ezra Pound and H.D., before establishing a pediatric practice in his hometown. Williams's writing was heavily influenced by Pound's Imagist poetics. At the same time, he broke from the trend established by Pound and other Imagist poets of traveling to Europe to write, staying in New Jersey and striving to create a strongly American voice. Williams's medical career eventually took him to General Hospital, where he was the head pediatrician, in Paterson, NJ, the town that would become famous in his epic poem of the same name. In 1948, Williams suffered a heart attack followed by a series of strokes preceding his retirement in 1951. Williams continued writing until his death in 1963.

 

General - Excellent

William Carlos Williams - Modern American Poetry
The Modern American Poetry pages are notable for their collection of critical commentary. Thorough biography, good bibliography, and poetry examples.

William Carlos Williams - The Academy of Amer...
Good biography, selected bibliography, poetry selections, lots of good info and many related links.

Amy Munno's William Carlos Williams Page
Excellent list of poems with the paintings that inspired them.Very brief biography, poetry samples, additional links.

William Carlos Williams Review
Online scholarly journal devoted to William's works.

General - Good - Average

These links either don't contain the wealth or quality of information as those above; however, they may be notable for one particularly good page, a number of external links, etc.

William Carlos Williams-Main Page
Primary and secondary bibliographies, poetry, brief biography, many external links.

Poets' Corner - William Carlos Williams - Sou...
Poetry samples. Poets' Corner is an online public poetry library.

William Carlos Williams (1883-1963) - American Literature on the Web
A number of links; some listed elsewhere on this page.

William Carlos Williams - Links and Resources
Several poems, information on Paterson, NJ, very brief biography. Several broken links.

william carlos williams
Biography, selected poetry, small amount of critcal reaction, additional links.

a man whose words will bite
Thorough biography.

Voices and Visions Spotlight -- William Carlo...
Not much information in itself, but this page includes a video clip for "The Great Figure" as well as a number of additional

Gale Group - Free Resources
Encyclopedia-entry-type page. Basic information.Williams links.

Critical Essays

Poetic Conversations:WCW and F. O'Hara
Several pages detailing relationships between Williams's and Frank O'Hara's work.

 

William Carlos Williams /Walt Whitman (essay)William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)

 

Williams's Influence on Burke

Essay concerning Williams's influence on Kenneth Burke.

 

mac.html
An essay on parallels between Williams and Sherwood Anderson.

Miscellaneous

[minstrels] Variations on a Theme by William ...
This is a fun one - variations by Kenneth Koch. No info on Williams.

 

William Carlos Williams
Apparently there's a band named after Williams. This is their site.

 

 

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Edited January 12, 2001

Sara Fornoff