William Carlos Williams is a leader of the Modern Poetry movement with peers such as Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot, but broke away from it to experiment more in his own style. He was extremely creative, playing with forms and styles of writing and not restricting himself to poetry, however, which he excelled at. The subjects of his poems were not always people, but specific images, especially momentary ones. Many of his poems start with the word "The," which indicates that the poem will describe whatever follows "The" in the title. Writing was his side career to being a doctor, which was more economical at the time. His writing takes on the analytical approach that must come from his other career in the way he is able to dissect anything down to a few, intense moments when he captures his reader and both the reader and the speaker see what Williams sees. Women's roles were extremely diverse in his day, but none providing the much-deserved significance. The inconsistencies of the positions occupied by women in contemporary American society are demonstrated in the progression of his female subject's inferior place to men in "The Young Housewife" and "Portrait Of a Lady" to a more respectful view in "To a Poor Old Woman."
In Williams' "The Young Housewife," he makes a statement about males' domination over females, especially sexually. The poem can be viewed on a few different levels. The most basic form of power that the presumed doctor in car has is, in fact, his car. He has means to motorized transportation, while the young housewife is on foot. The most obvious sexual power is in the last three lines, where the poet drives his car over the dry leaves, when he just depicted the young housewife as a fallen leaf. The p...
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William Carlos Williams is a poet who had an immense influence on the course of 20th century poetry. His view of women was rich and varied, and much of his poetry was sexually charged, especially in the beginning. It is important to keep in mind that he grew up in a sexist culture, and to think that that had no impact on him--or especially his views on women in his writing--would be absurd. However, as times changed, so did his recognition for new poetic forms. He wrote in varying styles from fiction to essay to sketch and was often experimental. He chose to use simple verse forms, American rhythms of speech, vivid images, and honest depictions. His work also illustrates emotional confinement and intensifies the sensory experience with articulated common speech. Williams' poetry is enjoyable on the surface and more intellectual the deeper it goes.
“For a Girl I Know about to be a Woman” by Miller Williams was published from Some Jazz A While: Collected Poems in 1999. Miller Williams was honored as the country’s third inaugural poet, for the poem “Of History and Hope”, at the beginning of former President Clinton’s second term. Williams founded the New Orleans Review, the University of Arkansas Press, and the MFA in Translation at the University of Arkansas. He was also the father of singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams (“Miller Williams”). It would be interesting to know what his inspiration was for all that he has done. He has written so much it would and contributed to many things, it would be great to know what exactly his inspiration is for all of it.
Williams, Pontheolla T. Robert Hayden: A Critical Analysis of His Poetry. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1987. Print.
The popular American Poet, Billy Collins, is playing a significant role in the evolution of poetry. His writing style evokes an array of emotions for the reader. Every stanza in his poetry passes the satirical standard that he generated for himself over his career. Collins swiftly captivates his readers through his diverse use of figurative language. More specifically, his use of vivid imagery paired with humorous personification and extended metaphors create his unique style of satirical poetry. This developed form of writing appeals to a large crowd of people because the generally accessible topics that he discusses are fairly easy to resonate for the common man. However, his poetry offers an interesting perspective on what otherwise would be simplistic ideas. The main themes and concepts that are being presented in each of his writings are revered and coveted by the general population. An appealing aspect of his writing is his ability to directly convey the main idea within the poem. As a result, the reader can understand the meaning of his work with ease. The typical beginning of his work gives the reader a slight taste of what is to come. Billy Collins’ unique writing style and various trademarks directly influenced by his ability to propagate an array of emotions for the reader, his humorous tone, and the accessibility of the topics he describes within his poetry.
Tennessee Williams was a well renowned playwright, who highlighted his personal experiences in his plays and stories. He had a colorful life and he enjoyed writing about what was considered taboo subjects in the 1940's, 1950's and the 1960's. Williams explored homosexuality, alcoholism, violence, greed and sex.
...eme” (Spring and All 179). It is not enough to accept Williams’s words in Spring and All as a sound argument for the direction of poetry or as a proper list of what poetry shouldn’t be. One must examine the work as a reactionary piece to the issues of the time period it was written in while insuring that it carries along the ideals it intends to redefine, without question.
William Carlos Williams was born in Rutherford, New Jersey on September 17, 1883. William grew up around different ancestries; His father, William George Williams, was English. His mother, Raquel Helene Hoher, was Puerto Rican (PoemHunter). Williams' parents wanted him to have a very good education and pushed him to become a successful doctor. In order to please his parents, Williams studied hard in school and excelled in math and science. Williams went on to study advanced pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania. While at college, Williams met a life-long friend Erza Pound who encouraged him to write poetry. After graduating from college, William worked as an intern at a hospital in New York until he got a job at a Nursery and Child’s hospital while he continued to write poetry (Poetry Foundation). Williams planned to study in Germany to further his career, but before he left, Williams proposed to Florence Herman, whose sister had already rejected him and married his brother. Florence agreed to marry William when he returned from studying in Germany. As Williams studied in Germany, he often visited with his college friend Erza. Upon his return in 1910 Williams opened his own medical business. Then after three years of being engaged, Williams married to Florence in 1912. They had their fir...
Tennessee Williams is widely known as one of the greatest playwrights in American history. Tennessee Williams's personal life and experiences have been the direct subject matter for his dramas. He uses his experiences and universalize them through the means of the stage. His life is utilized over and over again in the creation of his dramas.
In the early 20th century, many writers such as T.S. Eliot (Thomas Stearns Eliot) and Langston Hughes wrote what scholars of today consider, modern poetry. Writers in that time period had their own ideas of what modern poetry should be and many of them claimed that they wrote modern work. According to T.S. Eliot’s essay, “From Tradition”, modern poetry must consist of a “tradition[al] matter of much wider significance . . . if [one] want[s] it [he] must obtain it by great labour . . . no poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone. His significance, his appreciation is the appreciation of his relation to the dead poets and artists’ (550). In another term, tradition only comes within the artist or the art itself; therefore, it should be universally monumental to the past. And, Langston Hughes argues that African-Americans should embrace and appreciate their own artistic virtues; he wishes to break away from the Euro-centric tradition and in hopes of creating a new blueprint for the African-American-Negro.
Jackson, Esther Merle. The Broken World of Tennessee Williams. Madison: & of Wisconsin P, 1965.
During the time period Tennessee Williams, author of the play A Streetcar Named Desire, lived in, men were typically portrayed as leaders of the household. Through Williams' usage of dialogue, specific descriptions of each characters, as well as sound, he illustrates to readers of today's society how differently a man and woman coexisted in the mid-1900s, compared to today. Through the eyes of a topical/historical theorist, who stresses the relationships between the story and the time period it takes place, the distinction between today's society and that of five decades past, can be observed with depth and precision.
One of the most popular American poets is Walt Whitman. Whitman’s poetry has become a rallying cry for Americans, asking for individuality, self-approval, and even equality. While this poetry seems to be truly groundbreaking, which it objectively was, Whitman was influenced by the writings of others. While Whitman may not have believed in this connection to previous authors, critics have linked him to Emerson, Poe, and even Carlyle. However, many critics have ignored the connection between Walt Whitman and the English writer William Wordsworth. A major proponent of Romanticism, Wordsworth’s influence can be seen in Whitman 's poetry through a Romantic connection. Despite differences in form, one can see William Wordsworth’s influence on Walt
“I was not aware of how much vital energy had gone into this struggle until the struggle was removed” (A Streetcar Named Desire). Williams struggled as a child which helped him began his writing career. William’s grew up during the Great Depression, the many changes of presidents, and a fire that change work policy everywhere in the United States. A Streetcar Named Desire brought him great success.
William was very talented as a child. He loved to draw and write but did not like school. His type of writing was romantic tailored after writers at the time such as Thomson, Swinburn, Burns, and Houseman (Padgett Web). Not only did he not like school, he also did...
The point was that Williams is trying to imagine an autonomous work of art that has a deep thinking to it, that is in some sense violence or personified, and this sexual desire to make the tragic something living, introduces to the world of the tragic the problem of death. Tennessee William explores a conflict through between desire and death. There ...
Gwendolyn Brook’s “Ballad of Pearl May Lee” came from her book called Street in Bronzeville. This book exemplifies Brook’s “dual place in American literature” (Smith, 2). It is associated with Modernist poetry, as well as the Harlem Renaissance. This book is known for its theme of victimizing the poor, black woman. “Ballad of Pearl May Lee” is a poem that uses tone to represent the complex mood of the ballad. While tone and mood are often used interchangeably, there are differences even though they often work together in a poem. A poem’s mood refers to the atmosphere or state of mind that the poem takes on. This is often conveyed through the tone, which is the style or manner of expression through writing. In this poem, Brooks uses tone to enhance the mood. This paper will shed light on the idea that the mood of the poem is affected by the tone in several ways in order to make the mood inconsistent. Some of the ways that tone does this is by several episodic shifts in the scene of the poem, the repetition of stanzas at the end of the poem, the use of diction, and the change in the speaker’s stance throughout the poem. These poetic techniques enhance the speaker’s current feeling of self-pity and revengeful satisfaction by her mixed emotions associated with this reflection.