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WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS by Vivienne Koch

WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS

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Pub Date: Jan. 19th, 1950
Publisher: New Directions

This earnest, thorough study of the works- both in prose and poetry- of a deeply American artist leaves nothing to be desired in assiduity but remains for all its good will a little less than illuminating. Williams' is an illusive talent- lying somewhere between the dry, sculptural quality of Wallace Stevens and the delicate traceries of E.E. Cummings' wit and lyricism. Williams is a rational humanist and in all his work, however experimental and oblique, there is a pervading passion for life as well as a tender lyricism and resigned philosophy. Miss Koch examines the poems, plays and novels piece-meal, quotes from them copiously, explains them and admires them- and still leaves the reader without feeling for her subject. The book is for a public of those interested in modern poetry, but opens no wider vistas.