William Carlos Williams (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963) was an American poet closely associated with modernism and imagism, along with being a pediatrician and general practitioner.
A native of Rutherford, New Jersey, he was born to an unusual family; his father was an Englishman who moved with his parents (the poet's grandparents) to the Dominican Republic at the age of 5, while his mother was a Puerto Rican of primarily French ancestry. As a result, young William grew up speaking (Caribbean) Spanish, and was not fully comfortable in English until his teen years, and his life and art are (when you look closely) clearly heavily influenced by Caribbean culture. All that said, Williams was a bright spark, and was admitted to the University of Pennsylvania to pursue a medical degree.
Williams worked hard at Penn and completed his medical program on time. However, while in Philadelphia, he caught the literary bug and discovered poetry. Eventually, Williams had a successful literary career as a poet, having over twenty poetry collections, almost thirty books of prose though only one drama. For all that, he still maintained his medical practice as a pediatric and family physician, serving as Chief of Pediatrics at Passaic General Hospital for almost 40 years, from 1924 until his death.note
In Williams’ later years, he took on the role of elder statesman, mentoring and influencing younger poets, especially having a significant influence on many American literary movements of the 1950s. One of Williams’ most dynamic relationships as a mentor was with fellow poet Allen Ginsberg, who grew up in Paterson.
After suffering a heart attack in 1948, Williams’ health began to decline where a serious of strokes followed after 1949. He passed away at his home March 4, 1963 and is buried in Hillside Cemetery.
The United States National Book Award was reestablished in 1950 with awards by the book industry to authors of 1949 books in three categories where Williams won the first National Book Award for Poetry, recognizing both the third volume of Paterson and Selected Poems. Williams was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Pictures from Brueghel and Other Poems, and the Gold Medal for Poetry of the National Institute of Arts and Letters and The Poetry Society of America continues to honor William Carlos Williams by presenting an annual award in his name for the best book of poetry published by a small, non-profit or university press. Last but not least, he was induced into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2009.
Williams’ Rutherford house is now on the National Register of Historic Places.
References in media:
- The 2016 film Paterson by Jim Jarmusch is about an aspiring poet named Paterson who lives in Paterson, NJ. Naturally, there are several references to Williams, including a poignant scene involving the main character interacting with someone reading Williams's poem Paterson.
