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William Carlos William, whose father was an English immigrant and mother was Puerto Rican-born but of French descent, was
born in Rutherford, New Jersey on September 17, 1883 where he studied in a public school until 1897. When William
was fourteen, he attended Château de Lancy in Switzerland with his 13 month younger brother Ed for a year. During William's
fifteenth year, he and family moved to Paris, France to live with his relatives. There, William attended Lycée Condorcet for
two years.
In 1899, William and his family returned back to America where William and Ed both began classes in the Rutherford Public
School. During the fall term, William was enrolled at the Horce Mann School in New York City where he graduated. In 1902,
William was accepted into the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. There, he became great friends with Erza Pound,
whom would come to Williams' room to read his poems to Williams and influenced Williams to become a poet. William earned his
M.D. in 1906 and became an intern for the following four years in New York City.
Six years later, 1912, after William recieved his M.D. he married Florence Herman and had two sons, William Eric
and Paul. Much like his father, William traveled to many places such as France, Italy and U.K. Their sons, too, had study
abroad like William and Ed had done when they were children.
The begining of William's death started with a heart attack and from there his health had only worsened. A
year later, William suffered multiple strokes. in 1953, William was put under treatment at a psychiatric hospital.
10 years later on March 4th, 1963, William had passed away dying at the age of 79.
Time of William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams lived in a time where things weren't as clean as it is now. During his internship
at the Old French Hospital, he had to deal with many patients whom had malaria. Not only was malaria a problem, but all the
hospital at the time had a problem with vermins.
Later on in the years around 1918, the flu had swept the area. Because they had no vaccine completed at the
time, he and many doctors were constantly busy. A few of the doctors where unable to work because they, too, had caught the
flu. The flu wasn't the only thing that was spreading at the time too, but pneumonia was also another thing to worry about.
Williams' family, brother's family and mother had become sick, some with pneumonia. Luckily none of them had died.
During this time, World War I came about. This also got William involved into politics as well. He joined
with the Liberal Democratics and considered himself a socialist whom is agains the capitalist. This helped him write some
poems such as The Yachts which talks about rich elites.
Critics
William Carlos Williams has written a few books, some that
are poems which are a length of a book. The one book he had written, Sour Grapes, got him criticized harshly. People
had mocked him saying that this book is too tensed for any poet. They say Sour Grapes shows that Williams is bitter
and disappointed and that he doesn't let loose. They also told them that he isn't a poet, but a person who pretends to be
a poet. Williams had thought that when choosing the title Sour Grapes are just the same as sweet grapes.
The third book, Kora in Hell, was published but he hadn't recieved
a single penny on sales. That didn't get him down because he had other things to worry about, but he was happy to have a book
published.
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Quick Notes
Date of Birth:
September 17, 1883
Rutherford, New Jersey
Date of Death:
March 4, 1963 (age 79)
Columbia, Kentucky
Occupation:
Writer/Doctor
Writing Style:
Modernism and Imagism
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