William Carlos Williams

"No ideas but in things"


b. September 17, 1883 Rutherford, New Jersey -- d. March 4, 1963 Rutherford, New Jersey

attended schools in New Jersey, Geneva, Paris, and New York City before entering the medical school at the University of Pennsylvania in 1902

University of Pennsylvania, MD 1906

postgraduate study University of Leipzig 1909-1910

m. Florence "Flossie" Herman December 12, 1912

children: William Eric b. 1914; Paul b. 1916

practiced medicine all his life in Rutherford, New Jersey

good friend of Ezra Pound, whom he met in college and with whom he engaged in extended dialogues about the nature poetry; later suffered for this friendship, but never gave it up

pediatrician to the child Allen Ginsberg

visiting professor of English, University of Washington, Seattle, 1948

visited Reed College, Portland, Oregon, 1950, where he encountered and encouraged the young Philip Whalen

wrote the introduction for Allen Ginsberg's first book of poetry, Howl and Other Poems, in 1955.


Amy Munno's WCW Page

WCW at Academy of American Poets

WCW at Literature, Arts, and Medicine Database - includes links to texts and analysis of many WCW poems

WCW at Literary Kicks

WCW's Influence on Kenneth Burke - MLA conference paper delivered by David Blakesley, Purdue University, 1997

WCW at Modern American Poetry

William Carlos Williams and Walt Whitman - essay by Eric Elliott

William Carlos Williams Review - online journal

Selected Poetry of William Carlos Williams - valuable University of Toronto site - from "Representative Poetry On-Line"


Tom Bolling's home page