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William Carlos Williams

William Carlos Williams. Art and Healing. “Only medicine, a job I enjoyed, would make it possible for me to live and write as I wanted to” -William Carlos Williams. Outline:. Early life The world around William Carlos Williams Early Works and Imagism

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William Carlos Williams

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  1. William Carlos Williams Art and Healing

  2. “Only medicine, a job I enjoyed, would make it possible for me to live and write as I wanted to” -William Carlos Williams

  3. Outline: • Early life • The world around William Carlos Williams • Early Works and Imagism • The relationship between medicine and art • Conclusions

  4. Beginnings • Born in Rutherford, New Jersey in 1883 • Father was an Englishman from the West Indies; Mother was of Spanish and French heritage, also from West Indies • Studied abroad before enrolling in Horace Mann High School in NYC • Attended Medical School of Pennsylvania, during which time he befriended Hilda Doolittle and Ezra Pound

  5. An Everyday Life • Graduated from medical school in 1906 • Interned in New York City • Married Florence Herman (“Flossie”), and had 2 sons, Paul and William • Published his first book of poetry in 1909 • Worked in a very busy primary care practice • Edited several magazines and began to write fiction and plays

  6. The Political Climate • Russian Revolution • Transportation Revolution • World War I • Prohibition • Women’s Suffrage

  7. The Artistic Climate • Marked by man’s realization of his own fragmentation and an almost complete break from former styles • Cubism: Picasso, DuChamp • Ballet: Balanchine • Music: Stravinsky

  8. Georges Braque – “Woman With Guitar”

  9. Marcelle DuChamp – “Fresh Window” (1920)

  10. George Balanchine

  11. Stravinsky Works featured adventurous harmonies with a focus on dissonance

  12. Imagism • Rejected the effusive nature of Romantic and Victorian poetry • Focused on directness of idea and economy of language • Contemporary with and in harsh contrast to Georgian poetry • Contemporaries: Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot

  13. Basic Tenets of Imagism • To use the language of common speech • To create new rhythms – a new cadence means a new idea • To allow absolute freedom in the choice of subject • To present an image • To produce poetry that is hard and clear, never blurred or indefinite • Concentration is the very essence of Poetry

  14. The Red Wheelbarrow so much depends upon a red wheel barrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens

  15. Williams eventually broke with the imagist movement because he felt that the brevity of the imagist poem caused it to lose “structural necessity”

  16. Basic Premises of Williams’ Poetry • “Modern man has no measure” • Insisted on the value of newness, inefficacy of old forms • Sought a voice and style that was truly American • Rejected the necessity of religion or contrived mythologies • Believed in the contribution of the individual to a continuum of humanity

  17. “Medicine was the thing that gained me entrance to these secret gardens of self… I was permitted by my medical badge to follow the poor, defeated body into those gulfs and grottos”

  18. The Link Between Poetry and Medicine? • Diagnosis! • In medicine and in poetry, Williams sought to “catch the evasive life of a thing, to phrase things in such a way that stereotype will yield a moment of insight”

  19. LE MEDECIN MALGRE LUIOh I suppose I shouldwash the walls of my officepolish the rust frommy instruments and keep themdefinitely in orderbuild shelves in the laboratoryempty out the old stainsclean the bottlesand refill them, buyanother lens, putmy journals on edge instead ofletting them lie flatin heaps-then beginten years back andgraduallyread them to datecataloguing importantarticles for ready reference.I suppose I shouldread the new books.If to this I addeda bill at the tailor'sand at the cleaner'sgrew a decent beardand cultivated a lookof importance-Who can tell?  I might bea credit to my Lady of Happinessand never think of anythingbut a white thought

  20. Landscape With The Fall of IcarusAccording to Brueghel when Icarus fell it was spring a farmer was ploughing his field the whole pageantry of the year was awake tingling near the edge of the sea concerned with itself sweating in the sun that melted the wings' wax unsignificantly off the coast there was a splash quite unnoticed this was Icarus drowning

  21. The “Fall of Icarus” by Brueghel

  22. William Carlos Williams suffered a series of stokes Passed away March 4, 1963 at age 79 Posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1963 Later Years…

  23. Conclusions: • PLENTY of other William Carlos Williams works if you are interested • It is not necessary to abandon outside interests in pursuit of medicine • Art and medicine are inextricably linked – we are lucky to have the opportunity to participate in both!

  24. References: • Bremen, Brian A. William Carlos Williams and the Diagnostics of Culture. New York City: Oxford University Press, 1963. • Engels, John. Guide to William Carlos Williams. Columbus: Merrill Publishing Company, 1969. • Williams, William Carlos. The Complete Collected Poems of William Carlos Williams. New York: New Directions,1938.

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