Favorite Poets Week – William Carlos Williams
Post #248
April 16, 2019
April is National Poetry Month
Day 16:
“Favorite Poets Week”
Writing by Inner Vision – A Personal Journal
2019 – I am Reflecting on my Favorite Poets this Week.
William Carlos Williams
b. 1883
d. 1963
“ Forget all rules, forget all restrictions, as to taste, as to what ought to be said, write for the pleasure of it… – William Carlos Williams ”
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Write for the Pleasure of it –
This modest 7-day series will introduce my readers to 7 different poets who have influenced my creative and professional life as an academic scholar, author, and visual artist. I am presenting them for enjoyment because they have given me so much pleasure over the years since I first met them in their work.
In my personal library, there is a shelf which holds many books by William Carlos Williams. I think my favorite one would be “Pictures from Breugal,” because the poems were written in his last months of life. He had a calendar that had pictures of Peter Breugal’s paintings on it – and Williams created the poems as he observed the pictures. He was paralyzed from a stroke and could only type with 1 finger – and could be up for only 1 hour each day. This collection is what WCW spent the rest of his creative life working on. It is so beautiful and the images have inspired me in my writing and art most of my life.
Intellectual investigations in literature and art began for me early in my creative life path. I was reading philosophy and early texts on my own as a teenager.
As a scholar, I delved deeply into the writings of William Carlos Williams. I was part of a little group of doctoral students at West Virginia University that met for 3-hour long classes on the work of WCW’s writings. Some evenings we may only be able to discuss one small poem for the entire time – it was so rich and deep. At the same time I was reading every work printed on WCW, I was creating a body of paintings and prints, based on WCW’s imagery and thought, at the same time.
My published thesis and my public thesis exhibition in the gallery at WVU, attest to the passion and influence that he had on my career.
Following that time, I continued working on the MA in English at another university in another state, my last comprehensive exams and written papers continued my research into the work of 3 poets:
John Donne, William Carlos Williams and Robert Bly
For today’s feature, 3 poems by WCW
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“Between Walls”
“Landscape with the Fall of Icarus” Click here to read.
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To Think About:
William Carlos Williams was a family physician.
How does his career influence the motifs, themes, and concerns in his poetry?
What is your occupation and how does that influence what you do in your writing?
What do you personally bring to your poetry that reflects your personal & cultural history, concerns, worldview, and experiences?
Assignment:
Write a poem that reflects an idea or influence of your favorite poet from any time period.
Can you capture something unique or memorable in your favorite poet’s writing and use in in something new in your poem? This is known as “appropriation,” and is an important aspect of post-modernism.
What can you steal from your favorite poet, and use in your own poem?
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Lynda McKinney Lambert. Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved.
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