Nathalie's William Carlos Williams Page

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William Carlos Williams: A Poet of Contrasts
 
 
Over the course of William Carlos Williams' adult life, his hands delivered more than 3,000 babies.  Those same hands also produced poems, plays, essays, short stories, and novels that alltogether filled the pages of nearly 50 books.  William Carlos Williams was a physician and a poet.  He pursued two totally different life-careers in one lifetime -- and succeded in both.  His were two careers that in themselves may seem impossible to combine -- science and art...  To most people such contrasts of talents probably doesn't make sense.  However, William Carlos Williams was not "most people," and to him his career-choices did make sense.  They made perfect sense...
 
Whether he wrote about things just as they were, such as the poem cited below, for example, or he embarked on a poetic journey into the complexities and often the darkness of the human soul, every word (as well as the placement of every word) was always berfectly thought out.  Williams mastered the written word with the same scientific accuracy as he correctly diagnosed and treated his patients.  To Williams, the two professions complemented and enhanced one another.  He approached both fields in the same manner -- with carefull observation, special attention to detail, and precision
 
Welcome to my website on William Carlos Williams!  Please click on the items to the left in order to navigate through my site and to learn about one of the most fascinating poets in American literature... Enjoy!

"Cold Plums" (detail), by Nathalie Beck, 2005
coldplums.jpg
Copyrighted by the artist -- all rights reserved

 
 
This Is Just to Say
 
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
 
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
 
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
               
             -- William Carlos Williams, 1934