The Life of William Carlos Williams"Nothing stirs my blood like verse." These are the famous words of the great poet William Carlos Williams. Williams was born on September 17, 1883 in Rutherford, New Jersey. He spent most of his life in Rutherford, so today he is a local hero. Williams' mother was Puerto Rican and had almost pure Spanish blood. His father was American. As a child, Williams' father was a salesman and was often away from home. So they didn't see each other much. When Williams was four years old, he attended school in Switzerland and France for three years. Then his family returned to Rutherford. Williams began writing poetry at Horace Mann High School, in New York City. His parents loved literature and the visual arts, so Williams had a large vocabulary and a gift for writing poetry. Although Williams' parents were all for literature, they wanted him to become a doctor. So in high school, Williams decided he would attend medical school but continue writing poetry. Williams was soon accepted into the University of Pennsylvania Medical School and went to college. At the University of Pennsylvania he kept his word, practicing medicine and writing poetry. His parents really influenced him to study to be a doctor, so Williams worked very hard. In college, Williams befriended the poet Ezra Pound. She was the main person who encouraged him to continue writing poetry. Williams came to his dorm every night and Ezra helped him. Slowly, Ezra transformed him into a great poet. After Williams completed his studies, he devoted himself to both writing poetry and a medical career. Three years later (in 1909) Williams' first poems were published. A year later, Williams began a private medical practice in Rutherford, a business that lasted for more than 40 years. Every day he practiced medicine, then came home around 1 in the morning and wrote poetry. By 1912, his medical practice had given Williams the financial freedom to write what he wanted. Williams began writing poetry all day. Many of these poems were published, and during the 1920s-1950s he was revered by other poets because he rejected formalism. During this period Williams received numerous awards and published many other poems. Williams also married Florence Herman in 1912. Sadly, Williams Carlos Williams died on March 4, 1963. Could... middle of paper... or answer. Although Williams published his first poems they seemed different and strange, they caught on and were loved. Today many poets use Williams' techniques. There were dozens of poets to choose from for the ORP, but of all of them I chose William Carlos Williams. The main reason I chose Williams as a poet is because he is my father's favorite poet of all time. He had many of his poetry books and information about him, so if I had any questions my father knew all the answers. When I first started reading Williams' poems, I thought they were pretty strange. But when my father explained to me how he wrote and what some poems meant, I began to really understand his poetry and now he is my favorite poet. From reading Williams' poetry, I learned something extremely special and important about writing poetry. That you don't always have to write about things that have a message to have a great poem, you can write about random objects and still have a great poem. I would recommend Williams to more advanced readers who really understand the poem and already know a little about his background, because knowing Williams' background really helped me understand his poetry.