THE COLLECTED LATEH POEMS OF WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS

A sizeable collection of later poems by this major American poet. At first glance Dr. Williams seems to work in the imagist tradition --the words shock into focus to be the object rather than merely represent it. However, Dr. Williams leaves the inconsequence of the imagists far behind, as his vigorous perception slants into and through what he sees to natural and spiritual complexities. Interplays of objects, attitudes, emotions, times and places are caught at the poetic point of contact and rapidly crystalized. The average reader will find these poems difficult: some snap off suddenly as an eye blink; logical development is often sacrificed to intensity and Dr. Williams never rests quietly on the middle ground of metaphor. However, always there is a brilliant incisiveness, serious imagination, and a vigorous human warmth. Some poems have been previously published in magazines and Selected Poems. Predictable audience. For the modernists who liked the earlier work of this winner of the National Book Award.