Not a farmer
What we know of Paradise we learn here, by looking, by vision, by imagination, and both Paradise and the ground underfoot are always beyond the perfect grasp of our arts, as of our sciences. —Wendell Berry, The Poetry of William Carlos Williams of Rutherford
As with a poem, you can't summarize this book, but I think it fair to say it concerns itself with what Berry calls "local adaptation" in Williams' case, his "lifelong effort to come to terms with, to imagine, and to be of use to his native and chosen place." Berry addresses the importance of Williams having stayed in his hometown and how that decision caused his struggle to make an American line and, more important, to demonstrate that poetry is the way we can address urgent and immediate concerns, such as work, science, and politics.
I think of how I, like so many eager young poets, fled my hometown for the magnetic city, and how I've often thought that South Dakota needs artists more than New York City. But they couldn't keep me down on the farm, & that's OK too. It's harder & maybe less selfish to stay put, but it's not for everyone. I admire Williams more than almost any poet I can think of.
As with a poem, you can't summarize this book, but I think it fair to say it concerns itself with what Berry calls "local adaptation" in Williams' case, his "lifelong effort to come to terms with, to imagine, and to be of use to his native and chosen place." Berry addresses the importance of Williams having stayed in his hometown and how that decision caused his struggle to make an American line and, more important, to demonstrate that poetry is the way we can address urgent and immediate concerns, such as work, science, and politics.
I think of how I, like so many eager young poets, fled my hometown for the magnetic city, and how I've often thought that South Dakota needs artists more than New York City. But they couldn't keep me down on the farm, & that's OK too. It's harder & maybe less selfish to stay put, but it's not for everyone. I admire Williams more than almost any poet I can think of.