William Carlos Williams is recognized as one of the most important and prominent figures of the Imagist movement. Williams was born on the 17th of September, 1883, in Rutherford, New Jersey, where he would spend the majority of his life. He was the oldest of two sons. His father was English and his mother was Puerto Rican. Williams grew up in a very literary household, being introduced to Dante and Shakespeare at a young age by his father. He attended Horace Mann High School, initially studying math and science, before developing an interest in writing and languages at a later date. Williams went on to study medicine at University of Pennsylvania, often struggling with the weight of his parents' expectations of him. They wanted him to lead a relatively conventional life and shunt his more artistic impulses. As a doctor, Williams went into private practice for forty years and claimed that his everyday interactions with his patients massively shaped and influenced his poetry. His sought to find a form that encapsulated the suffering, struggles and momentary joys in the most direct manner possible.
Williams published his first book of poems, Poems, in 1909, followed by The Tempers in 1913. However, it was not until the publication of Spring and All in 1923 that critics thought he had successfully reached the pinnacle of his formal goals. Unlike some of his contemporaries, Williams was specifically trying to strip away layers of allusion and artifice in his work. Williams was also known for his epic poem, Paterson, which detailed the daily lives of various inhabitants of the New Jersey city of the same name. His final book of poems was Pictures From Brueghel and Other Poems, for which he posthumously received the Pulitzer Prize.
After a period of declining health, Williams died on March 4, 1963. Williams received the National Book Award for Poetry in 1950 and the Bollingen Prize in 1953. He was also posthumously awarded the Gold Medal for Poetry by the National Institute for Arts and Letters in 1962. His work is remembered for its close attention to detail, commitment to formal innovation, and unvarnished evocations of commonplace beauty.