Literature Lectures - 16. William Carlos Williams

Modern Poetry (ENGL 310) with Langdon Hammer The poetry of William Carlos Williams is presented and analyzed. His use of enjambment to surprise and transform is examined in order to highlight Williams's interest in depicting creative and cognitive processes. The Imagist qualities of much of Williams's poetry is considered alongside his engagement with modernist art--particularly the preoccupation of Duchamps and Cubist painters with the process of representing sensual perception. His free verse, which includes the innovative use of white space and carefully, visually balanced lines, establishes his position as one of the most visually-oriented poets in all of modernism. 00:00 - Chapter 1. Introduction: William Carlos Williams 04:08 - Chapter 2. William Carlos Williams Poem: "The Red Wheelbarrow" 10:06 - Chapter 3. Free Verse and the Prologue to Kora in Hell 30:34 - Chapter 4. William Carlos Williams Poem: "The Great Figure" 38:21 - Chapter 5. William Carlos Williams Poem: "Spring and All" Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://oyc.yale.edu This course was recorded in Spring 2007.