(17 September 1883 – 4 March 1963 / New Jersey)

poet William Carlos Williams
#36 on top 500 poets

Quotations

  • ''all to no end save beauty
    the eternal—

    So in detail they, the crowd,
    are beautiful''
    William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), U.S. poet. At the Ball Game (l. 9-12). . . Oxford Book of American Verse, The. F. O. Matthiessen, ed. (1950) Oxford University Press.
    84 person liked.
    		80 person did not like.
  • ''It is summer, it is the solstice
    the crowd is

    cheering, the crowd is laughing
    in detail

    permanently, seriously
    without thought''
    William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), U.S. poet. At the Ball Game (l. 31-36). . . Oxford Book of American Verse, The. F. O. Matthiessen, ed. (1950) Oxford University Press.
    70 person liked.
    		77 person did not like.
  • ''It is alive, venomous
    it smiles grimly
    its words cut—''
    William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), U.S. poet. At the Ball Game (l. 16-18). . . Oxford Book of American Verse, The. F. O. Matthiessen, ed. (1950) Oxford University Press.
    49 person liked.
    		54 person did not like.
  • ''the black wings
    of the

    hospital where
    nothing

    will grow''
    William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), U.S. poet. Between Walls (l. 1-5). . . Sleeping on the Wing; an Anthology of Modern Poetry with Essays on Reading and Writing. Kenneth Koch and Kate Farrell. (1981) Random House.
    57 person liked.
    		51 person did not like.
  • ''Green is a solace
    a promise of peace a fort
    against the cold (though we

    did not say so)''
    William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), U.S. poet. Burning the Christmas Greens (l. 41-44). . . Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry, The. Richard Ellmann and Robert O'Clair, eds. (2d ed., 1988) W. W. Norton & Company.
    9 person liked.
    		7 person did not like.
  • ''we, in
    that instant, lost,

    breathless to be witnesses,
    as if we stood
    ourselves refreshed among
    the shining fauna of that fire.''
    William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), U.S. poet. Burning the Christmas Greens (l. 70-75). . . Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry, The. Richard Ellmann and Robert O'Clair, eds. (2d ed., 1988) W. W. Norton & Company.
    9 person liked.
    		6 person did not like.
  • ''At the thick of the dark
    the moment of the cold's
    deepest plunge we brought branches
    cut from the green trees

    to fill our need,''
    William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), U.S. poet. Burning the Christmas Greens (l. 16-20). . . Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry, The. Richard Ellmann and Robert O'Clair, eds. (2d ed., 1988) W. W. Norton & Company.
    7 person liked.
    		7 person did not like.
  • ''Their time past, pulled down
    cracked and flung to the fire
    Mgo up in a roar

    All recognition lost, burnt clean
    clean in the flame, the green
    dispersed,''
    William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), U.S. poet. Burning the Christmas Greens (l. 1-6). . . Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry, The. Richard Ellmann and Robert O'Clair, eds. (2d ed., 1988) W. W. Norton & Company.
    8 person liked.
    		6 person did not like.
  • ''If I admire my arms, my face,
    my shoulders, flanks, buttocks
    against the yellow drawn shades,—

    Who shall say I am not
    the happy genius of my household?''
    William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), U.S. poet. Danse Russe (l. 8-12). . . Norton Anthology of Poetry, The. Alexander W. Allison and others, eds. (3d ed., 1983) W. W. Norton & Company.
    8 person liked.
    		8 person did not like.
  • ''the sea is circled and sways
    peacefully upon its plantlike stem''
    William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), U.S. poet. Flowers by the Sea (l. 7-8). . . Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry, The. Richard Ellmann and Robert O'Clair, eds. (2d ed., 1988) W. W. Norton & Company.
    11 person liked.
    		5 person did not like.

Read more quotations »

Nantucket

Flowers through the window
lavender and yellow

changed by white curtains –
Smell of cleanliness –

Sunshine of late afternoon –
On the glass tray

a glass pitcher, the tumbler
turned down, by which

a key is lying – And the
immaculate white bed

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