POETIC BIRTHDAY

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BORN ON THIS DAY
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1883 - WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS, Poet/Writer, in Rutherford, New Jersey.


Williams received his primary education in Rutherford, until 1897, at which time he studied in Paris and New York City.

In 1902, having passed a special examination, he was admitted to the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, from which he graduated in 1906. He did internships at a few hospitals,and eventually studied advanced pediatrics.

Although his primary occupation was as a family doctor, Williams had a successful literary career as a poet and writer. He started writing poetry in high school, and published his first book of poems in 1909.

Williams is strongly associated with the American modernist movement in literature and saw his poetic project as distinctly an American one; he sought to renew language through the fresh, raw idiom that grew out of American culture.

He sought to invent an entirely fresh and uniquely American form of poetry whose subject matter centered on everyday circumstances of life and the lives of common people.

In his later years, Williams mentored and influenced many younger poets, including a most dynamic relationship with fellow New Jersey poet, Allen Ginsburg.

 Williams had an especially significant influence on many of the American literary movements of the 1950s.

He has received numerous awards and honors for his literary achievements throughout his life.

The Poetry Society of America continues to honor William Carlos Williams today, by presenting an annual award in his name for the best book of poetry published by a small, non-profit or university press.

For more comprehensive info on William Carlos Williams, please Google search his name and read all relevant entries.

To read his poetry log on to poets.org