Paterson

by William Carlos Williams

Book Overview

Paterson is both a place--the New Jersey city in whom the person (the poet's own life) and the public (the history of the region) are combined. Originally four books (published individually between 1946 and 1951), the structure of Paterson (in Dr. Williams' words) "follows the course of teh Passaic River" from above the great falls to its entrance into the sea. The unexpected Book Five, published in 1958, affirms the triumphant life of the imagination,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 081121298X
• ISBN13: 9780811212984
• Release Date: April 1995
• Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
• Length: 328 Pages
• Weight: 0.79 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

William Carlos Williams' EPIC long poem

Williams' "Paterson" is the long poem that brought William Carlos Williams into the American Poetic spotlight. This work illustrated Williams' ability to become a true myth-maker, and placed him in the same circle of poets that Pound, Eliot, and Whitman belonged to. I strongly recommend any poetry lover, or student of American literature, to read this text! It is amazing to see how Williams uses historical figures of local American communities, and letters from other poets to develop tone, satire, and epic scope, all while using the "Common language" of the "American idiom." A number 1 in American poetic history and development!

He stole it from me... every word.

Yeah. It's a damn fine book. Poetry or prose? who cares? Its the story of a man through the story of a town, a little rhythm, a little newspaper clipping, definately Modernist and definately good. I'm awful glad that WCW never turned into an Imagiste or a TV wrestling show. Let me put it this way, if you like: Faulkner, early Joyce, or the less obscure of Uncle Ez's poems, I think you'd find this piece of literature worth your while. If you want an all-American history story, ...sorry, I don't even know what else to suggest. Be prepared for inconsistancy and the requirement that YOU pick up the pieces and put them together; and they're fairly easy to recognize, to boot. It's a good poem, and I wish I would of thought of it first, but I thought of it last, and that is that.

One of my favorite books of any kind.

Paterson is a book-length poem that tells you everything you need to know about America. If it appears complex and impenetrable then you need to put the thing down for a day or two, and then try again, because this is really a joy, there's nothing impenetrable about it! Read it when you really have some time to think and skip the commentary (by this I mean read it first without consulting literary criticism, I do not mean that you should ignore any part of the work itself). This poet will teach you that literary forms are just tools and that what really matters is whether the writer has insight and is able to communicate it in the necessary way. This book is worth your precious time.

A Signature Work.

Williams's Paterson is a long poem. Williams originally intended the poem to be published In five separate books which it was between 1946 and 1958. The poem has been made availabe in one complete volume. In the poem Dr Williams compares his life to the flowing course of the Passaic River; especially its waterfalls. The poem is quite lengthly but well worth the read. I think that the poem Paterson is Williams's signature work. I also recommend Williams's Selected Essays & Selected Poems.

Just Read It.

I had forgotten until I finished reading this poem this morning (on a train rolling through Newark, New Jersey) just how great an achievement this is. If you haven't read it. Do it now. If you only read it when you were young, then read it as an adult. You'll be amazed at what you missed. I was.