Summary:
William Carlos Williams is one of the most influential poets for his development of modern poetry. He is known as one of the leading 20th century literary figures of the United States.(
William Carlos Williams is one of the most influential poets for his development of modern poetry. He is known as one of the leading 20th century literary figures of the United States.( ) His poetry concentrated on recreating American idioms in his verse. He believed that language is a reflection of character. His poetry was based on objects rather than expressing ideas. (Rosenthal, 1) Williams was such a good writer that in his lifetime he was not only a successful poet, but wrote autobiographies, essays, novels, plays, and short stories. While he was a writer he was also a successful physician for over 40 years.
William Carlos William was born in Rutherford, New Jersey on September 17, 1883. He was born to middle class parents. His father was William George Williams, a New York Businessman. His mother was Raquel Helene Hoheb a French Spanish extraction from Puerto Rico, and an artist. (Rosenthal, 10) He was educated in local schools in New Jersey. He spoke three languages including Spanish, French, as well as English. From 1897-1899 he went to school in Switzerland, with his brother Edgar. In 1900 he went to high school in New York, where he graduated in 1902. After graduating, he was accepted into the dental school at the University of Pennsylvania. (Rosenthal, 12) While in his first year in the dental school, he soon transferred over to the medical school. At the medical school he soon became good friends with Ezra Pound. Pound influenced him to literature he then fell in love with poetry.( ) His parents wanted him to be a doctor, but he wanted to become a poet. He received a medical degree in 1906. He interned in New York City at the French hospital, and Children's hospital. He resigned from the hospital after reporting a case of fraud. While interning, he also tried painting for 3 years like his mother. During this time he met Florence "Flossie" Herman who he fell in love with. She promised to wait for him when he went to Leipzig, Germany to study pediatrics in 1909. After studying in Germany he traveled to Netherlands, France, England, and Spain. Then in 1910 he opened his own private practice in Rutherford, New Jersey.
On December 12, 1912 he married Flossie Herman, and had two sons Eric, and Paul. Williams began to write poetry also, and published his first book of poetry collection Poems. From his medical practice it helped him to write poetry, and gained freedom to write what he wished. After he published his first book, he worked harder at becoming a writer then a physician. In 1918 his father died, he wrote more and more poetry during that time. One of his famous poems was "The Widows Lament in Springtime" writing as his mother and how she coped with her husbands death. His love for America became a theme to his poetry that he began to write in the 1920's.
During the next 30 years Williams wrote many poems, essays, novels, plays, and short stories. In 1947 he gave many lectures at the University of Washington, about the art of short stories. As he got older have two careers became harder and harder. In 1948 he had his first heart attack. During that year he published more poems. Then in 1950 his writing career peaked, and he was awarded the National Book Award.
In March 1951 he had his first stroke and retired from his medical practice after 41 years. Then one year later he had another very serious stroke in August 1952. In October 1955 Williams had his third, paralyzing stroke. Though he eventually taught himself to speak again and learned to type with his non-paralyzed hand on an electric typewriter. His pace that he wrote poems was not as fast as before though. He still published many different types of poems during that time. In 1962 he published "New Directions" which was Williams's last poetry collection. The collection won the 1963 Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Then that same year Williams died in Rutherford, New Jersey at the age of 80.
The Widows Lament in Springtime
Sorrow is my own yard
where the new grass
flames as it has flamed
often before but not
with the cold fire
that closes round me this year.
Thirtyfive years
I lived with my husband.
The plumtree is white today
with masses of flowers.
Masses of flowers
loaded the cherry branches
and color some bushes
yellow and some red
but the grief in my heart
is stronger than they
for though they were my joy
formerly, today I notice them
and turned away forgetting.
Today my sone told me
that in the meadows,
at the edge of the heavy woods
in the distance, he saw
trees of white flowers.
I feel that I would like
to go there
and fall into those flowers
and sink into the marsh near them.
By William Carlos Williams
The poem "The Widows Lament in Springtime" written by Carlos Williams talks about his mother, a widow when her husband dies. The speaker's mother is upset about being a widow. It is spring time and although everything is blossoming it does not have much meaning for her. She looks at all the flowers, cherry branches, bushes but she still has a grief in her heart. It was in 1918 when her husband William George Williams passed away. She was married for 35 years which was half her life as it states in line seven, and eight. She looks at all the white blossoms but then she sees yellow and red as her grief gets stronger. Her husband also died before springtime and did not get to enjoy the new beauty and ground. The speaker comes back to bring her news and try to cheer her up. She looks at the trees but instead of being happy she would rather die after seeing springtime, as it says "and fall into those flowers, and sink into the marsh near them"
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