Poet William Carlos Williams died on this date -- March 4 -- in 1963. Williams was Doctor Musial in Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums. We wrote about Williams on his birthday in 2021, so you can click HERE for some details on this influential person in the Kerouac world, including his advice to Jack and Allen Ginsberg et al. along with one of his poems.
In a September 11, 1955 letter to editor Malcolm Cowley, Jack explains his developing writing style and describes it as:
RHYTHMIC--It's prose answering the requirements mentioned by W. C. Williams, for natural-speech rhythms and words-- (Jack Kerouac Selected Letters 1940-1956, 1995, Penguin Books, p. 515)Rest In Poetry, Dr. Williams.
WCW's work was introduced to me in my first year of college, 1977. I love his work but know little of his life. I'll go and check out your link - thanks.
ReplyDeleteTara, I'm glad you are interested in learning more about Dr. Williams. You might want to check out this link, too: https://williamssociety.org/
ReplyDelete