alec foss. childhood bborn sept 17 th 1883 ffirst of two sons eenglish father, puerto rican mother...
TRANSCRIPT
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WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMSAlec Foss
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Childhood
Born Sept 17th 1883 First of two sons English father, Puerto
Rican mother Grandmother named
Emily Dickenson
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Schooling Showed early interest in
math and science Late high school is when he
decided he liked literature. Given strong and extremely
strict morals by his parents. University of Pennsylvania
– Medicine Schooling influenced by his
parents Used college as a means to
creativity
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Early Adulthood
Married Florence Hermen 1912
He was a successful physician
After publishing Spring Is All, did not publish another book of poetry for 10 years.
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Career As a Poet Drew upon John Keats and
Walt Whitman for inspiration – “Keats was my god.”
Ezra Pound – friend and mentor
Rebelled against rigid and ordered poetry – imagist movement.
Not very well known until Paterson
Was invited to be a consultant in the library of congress – failed.
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Later Life
Failing health seemed to boost his creative strength
Died Mar. 4th 1963 Last book, Pictures
From Brueghel, won a Pulitzer in 1963
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Some of his works
The Tempers 1913 Kora In Hell: Improvisations 1920 Spring And All 1923 The Red Wheelbarrow 1938
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Poem (As the cat)William Carlos Williams
As the catclimbed overthe top of
the jamclosetfirst the rightforefoot
carefullythen the hindstepped downinto the pit ofthe emptyflowerpot
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Free verse poem
Obviously about a cat
Jamcloset – closet where you put jams?
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As the cat
climbed over
the top of
the jamcloset
first the right
forefoot
carefully
then the hind
stepped down
into the pit ofthe empty
flowerpot
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As the cat
climbed over
the top of
the jamcloset
first the right
forefoot
carefully
then the hind
stepped down
into the pit of
the empty
flowerpot
Cat climbing over something
Uses the front right foot first
Then steps into an empty flower pot
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Rhythm As the cat
climbed over
the top of
the jamcloset
first the right
forefoot
carefully
then the hind
stepped down
into the pit of
the empty
flowerpot
333
Syllables
432
342533
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Theme
Seems to be about a cat climbing over something then into a flowerpot
The last stanzas last three lines have a descending rhythm which leads you to the end where he ends up in a flowerpot
“Carefully” sticks out
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Interpretation
My interpretation of this poem is simple.
Williams was probably sitting somewhere
looking for something to write about when
he saw a cat climb over something
(a jamcloset) and then fall into a flowerpot.
He probably thought it was funny (which it
probably was), and wrote a poem about it.
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Sources
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=174770
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Carlos_Williams