William Carlos Williams - "A mirror of modernity" : a study of Paterson and The Collected Earlier Poems of William Carlos Williams

Abstract

This thesis is an attempt to write a study of some of the poetry of William Carlos Williams. -- Williams's career as a poet has been eclipsed by the brilliant careers of two of his contemporaries, Eliot and Pound. The latter was a life-long friend whose poetic talents Williams admired. It is apparent from the increasing number of scholarly works on Williams in the past decade that he is being recognized as a major figure in contemporary literature. -- His career was a dual one; he was both a very active physician in Rutherford, N.J. and a prolific, versatile writer. His books, of which there are forty-nine, include poetry, novels, plays and literary criticism. Paterson, his long epic poem, is his most impressive work. As demonstrated in the latter half of this thesis, it and some of the books which make up The Collected Earlier Poems were undertakings of no ordinary rank in twentieth century literature.