Early Poems

By William Carlos Williams

One of the most original and widely imitated poets of the twentieth century, William Carlos Williams (1883–1963) wrote verse firmly rooted in concrete experience and the particulars of everyday life. A practicing physician for more than 40 years, Williams worked in the idiom of modern American speech ― unlike his friend and mentor, Ezra Pound ― and his poems are redolent with a warmth and generosity of spirit. The Beat poets were particularly impressed with the accessibility of his language, and Williams's widely quoted dictum, "No ideas but in things," influenced a generation of American poets.
This fine selection offers readers the opportunity to study and enjoy the richness and variety of Williams's early work. More than 70 poems, published between 1917 and 1921, include "Peace on Earth," "Tract," "El Hombre," "Danse Russe," "Keller Gegen Dom," "Willow Poem," "Queen-Anne's-Lace," "Portrait of a Lady," "The Widow's Lament in Springtime," and many others.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Release date: Mar 9, 2015
• ISBN: 9780486158877

William Carlos Williams

James Branch Cabell (1879-1958) was an American writer of escapist and fantasy fiction. Born into a wealthy family in the state of Virginia, Cabell attended the College of William and Mary, where he graduated in 1898 following a brief personal scandal. His first stories began to be published, launching a productive decade in which Cabell’s worked appeared in both Harper’s Monthly Magazine and The Saturday Evening Post. Over the next forty years, Cabell would go on to publish fifty-two books, many of them novels and short-story collections. A friend, colleague, and inspiration to such writers as Ellen Glasgow, H.L. Mencken, Sinclair Lewis, and Theodore Dreiser, James Branch Cabell is remembered as an iconoclastic pioneer of fantasy literature.

Book preview

FROM AL QUE QUIERE!

DANSE RUSSE

If I when my wife is sleeping

and the baby and Kathleen

are sleeping

and the sun is a flame-white disc

in silken mists

above shining trees,—

if I in my north room

danse naked, grotesquely

before my mirror

waving my shirt round my head

and singing softly to myself:

"I am lonely, lonely.

I was born to be lonely.

I am best so!"

If I admire my arms, my face

my shoulders, flanks, buttocks

against the yellow drawn shades,—

who shall say I am not

the happy genius of my household?

TRACT

I will teach you my townspeople

how to perform a funeral—

for you have it over a troop

of artists—

unless one should scour the world—

you have the ground sense necessary.

See! the hearse leads.

I begin with a design for a hearse.

For Christ’s sake not black—

nor white either—and not polished!

Let it be weathered—like a farm wagon—

with gilt wheels (this could

Reviews for Early Poems

[ironicqueery · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a nice little collection of poems which serves as a nice introduction to Williams. At just 55 pages, it leaves you wanting more, but doesn't overwhelm the reader either. My favorite poems were:From Al Que Quiere! 1917TractA Portrait in GreysFrom Sour Grapes Thursday The poetry is simple in language and forgoes complex rhyming schemes. What results is poetry that captures you with the subject matter and appreciation for things not normally noticed - leaves, grass, people, etc. This bare approach to poetry brings power to the words, set in such a stark format.