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William Carlos Williams on Poetry

1883–1963 United States

← All quotes by William Carlos Williams

5 quotes

Prose may carry a load of ill-defined matters like a ship. But poetry is the machine which drives it, pruned to a perfect economy.

The Wedge (1944)

Many questions haven't been answered as yet. Our poets may be wrong; but what can any of us do with his talent but try to develop his vision, so that through frequent failures we may learn better what we have missed in the past.

Poetry demands a different material than prose. It uses another facet of the same fact … the spontaneous conformation of language as it is heard.

Detail & Prosody for the Poem Patterson given to James Laughlin (1939)

It is difficult
to get the news from poems

Journey to Love (1955)

My first poem was a bolt from the blue … it broke a spell of disillusion and suicidal despondence. … it filled me with soul satisfying joy.

The Autobiography of William Carlos Williams (1951)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: William Carlos Williams (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.