The Life of William Carlos Williams Essay -- English Literature Essays

The Life of William Carlos Williams â€Å"Nothing whips my blood like verse.† These are the famous words of the great poet, William Carlos Williams. Williams was born on September 17, 1883 in Rutherford, New Jersey. He spent most of his life in Rutherford, so today he is a local hero. Williams’ mother was Puerto Rican and almost had pure Spanish blood. His father was American. As a child, Williams’ dad was a salesman and was often away from home. Thus, they didn’t see each other very much. When Williams was four, he attended school in Switzerland and France for three years. Then his family moved back to Rutherford. Williams started writing poetry at Horace Mann High School, in New York City. His parents loved literature and the visual arts, so Williams had a large vocabulary and a gift for writing poetry. Even though Williams’ parents were all for literature, they wanted him to become a doctor. So in high school, Williams decided he would go to medical school but continue to write poe try. Williams soon was accepted into the University of Pennsylvania Medical School and went off to college. At the University of Pennsylvania, he stuck to his word, practicing medicine and writing poetry. His parents really influenced him to study to become a doctor so Williams worked extremely hard. In college, Williams was befriended by poet Ezra Pound. He was the main person who encouraged him to continue writing poetry. Williams would come to his dormitory every night and Ezra would help him. Slowly, Ezra developed him into a great poet. After Williams completed his studies, he had his heart set on both writing poetry and a medical career. Three years later (in 1909) Williams’ first poems were published. A year after that Williams began a private medical practice in Rutherford, something which lasted for over 40 years. Every day he’d practice medicine, and then come home around one o’clock in the morning and write poetry. By 1912, his medical practice had given Williams the financial freedom to write what he wished. Williams started writing poetry all day. Many of these poems got published, and during the 1920’s-1950’s, he was venerated by other poets because he rejected formalism. Over this period of time Williams received many awards and published many other poems. Williams also married Florence Herman in 1912. Sadly, Williams Carlos Williams died on March 4, 1963. He may... ...or answer. Even though back when Williams’ published his first poems they seemed different and strange, they caught on and were loved. Today, many poets use Williams’ techniques. There were dozens of poets to choose from for the ORP, but out of all of them I chose William Carlos Williams. The main reason I chose Williams as my poet was because he’s my dad’s all-time favorite poet. He had many of his poetry books and information about him, so if I had any questions my dad knew all the answers. When I first started reading Williams’ poems, I thought they were rather strange. But as my dad explained how he wrote and what some of the poems meant, I started really understanding his poetry and now he is my favorite poet. From reading Williams’ poetry, I have learned one extremely special and important thing about writing poetry. That you don’t always have to write about things that have a message to have a great poem, you can write about random objects and still have a wonderful poem. I would recommend Williams to more advanced readers who really understand poetry and already know a little bit about his past, because knowing Willi ams’ background really helped me understand his poetry. The Life of William Carlos Williams Essay -- English Literature Essays The Life of William Carlos Williams â€Å"Nothing whips my blood like verse.† These are the famous words of the great poet, William Carlos Williams. Williams was born on September 17, 1883 in Rutherford, New Jersey. He spent most of his life in Rutherford, so today he is a local hero. Williams’ mother was Puerto Rican and almost had pure Spanish blood. His father was American. As a child, Williams’ dad was a salesman and was often away from home. Thus, they didn’t see each other very much. When Williams was four, he attended school in Switzerland and France for three years. Then his family moved back to Rutherford. Williams started writing poetry at Horace Mann High School, in New York City. His parents loved literature and the visual arts, so Williams had a large vocabulary and a gift for writing poetry. Even though Williams’ parents were all for literature, they wanted him to become a doctor. So in high school, Williams decided he would go to medical school but continue to write poe try. Williams soon was accepted into the University of Pennsylvania Medical School and went off to college. At the University of Pennsylvania, he stuck to his word, practicing medicine and writing poetry. His parents really influenced him to study to become a doctor so Williams worked extremely hard. In college, Williams was befriended by poet Ezra Pound. He was the main person who encouraged him to continue writing poetry. Williams would come to his dormitory every night and Ezra would help him. Slowly, Ezra developed him into a great poet. After Williams completed his studies, he had his heart set on both writing poetry and a medical career. Three years later (in 1909) Williams’ first poems were published. A year after that Williams began a private medical practice in Rutherford, something which lasted for over 40 years. Every day he’d practice medicine, and then come home around one o’clock in the morning and write poetry. By 1912, his medical practice had given Williams the financial freedom to write what he wished. Williams started writing poetry all day. Many of these poems got published, and during the 1920’s-1950’s, he was venerated by other poets because he rejected formalism. Over this period of time Williams received many awards and published many other poems. Williams also married Florence Herman in 1912. Sadly, Williams Carlos Williams died on March 4, 1963. He may... ...or answer. Even though back when Williams’ published his first poems they seemed different and strange, they caught on and were loved. Today, many poets use Williams’ techniques. There were dozens of poets to choose from for the ORP, but out of all of them I chose William Carlos Williams. The main reason I chose Williams as my poet was because he’s my dad’s all-time favorite poet. He had many of his poetry books and information about him, so if I had any questions my dad knew all the answers. When I first started reading Williams’ poems, I thought they were rather strange. But as my dad explained how he wrote and what some of the poems meant, I started really understanding his poetry and now he is my favorite poet. From reading Williams’ poetry, I have learned one extremely special and important thing about writing poetry. That you don’t always have to write about things that have a message to have a great poem, you can write about random objects and still have a wonderful poem. I would recommend Williams to more advanced readers who really understand poetry and already know a little bit about his past, because knowing Willi ams’ background really helped me understand his poetry.