Who was William Carlos Williams?

Williams

William Carlos Williams (1883-1963) was born in Rutherford, New Jersey, where he worked as a pediatrician. Between seeing patients, he took out his typewriter and wrote poems! He also wrote novels, short stories and plays.

He influenced many younger poets, such as Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder and Robert Lowell.

Williams believed in telling the truth about ordinary, everyday life, supported the use of simple speech and insisted that there can be "no ideas but in things!". Finally, the lines in his poems do not rhyme and the themes are very simple but they are still very memorable.

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Last modified: Monday, 3 June 2013, 9:11 PM