William Carlos William (1883–1963)

As part of The Well-Educated Mind Reading Challenge, I only read the suggested poetry. This is the list and some of my initial impression(s):

Asphodel That Greeny Flower (Love letter asking wife forgiveness.)
The Descent of Winter (journal writings…really long and not interesting)
Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (about Brueghel’s painting!)
The Last Words of My English Grandmother (That was odd.)
Proletarian Portrait
The Red Wheelbarrow (experimental)
Self-Portrait (very weird)
Sonnet in Search of an Author (WHAT DID I JUST READ??)
Spring and All (OK, better…)
This is Just to Say
Tract
To Elsie (depressing)

Overall, I gave Williams three stars because it was just ok. He is called an Imaginist, or something like that, because he experimented with style. He did not follow rules (except his own). He left out punctuation and did not use typical sentences. He experimented with lines of poetry, and did not bother with rhyming.

His topics were all over the place and very strange. But I did have one favorite and it was Landscape with the Fall of Icarus because it caused me to revisit the painting. Williams pointed out that no one really even noticed what happened to Icarus, even the fisherman at the water's edge, a few feet from where Icarus entered the sea. It was all kind of humorous, and I suppose Brueghel meant it to be, and Williams was moved to write about it.… (mehr)

I never know how to review a book of poetry. I learned in the preface that the five books that make up Paterson were originally published in separate volumes in 1946, 1948, 1949, 1951, and 1958, and that through the various printings of the work, the text changed. In this 1992 edition, all five books were collected, and the editor studied all the manuscripts, galleys, and proof pages to decide which versions to include. Anyway, Paterson is a city near me in New Jersey, and also near where William Carlos Williams lived. Its main geographical feature is the Great Falls on the Passaic River, which looms above the city, and the books of the poem metaphorically follow the course of that river as it meanders through northern New Jersey and then ultimately out to the sea. The poetry is both about the city of Paterson but also about Williams's life and the history of the whole region. No wonder it is such a masterpiece! This edition, edited by Christopher MacGowan, has lots of interesting footnotes and explanatory material. I first read this poem in my teens before I ever moved to New Jersey and became familiar with these places. My own experiences and the notes helped make it so much more.… (mehr)