Spring and All

Spring and All Synopsis

Spring and All (1923) is a book of poems by William Carlos Williams. Predominately known as a poet, Williams frequently pushed the limits of prose style throughout his works, often comprised of a seamless blend of both forms of writing. In Spring and All, the closest thing to a manifesto he wrote, Williams addresses the nature of his modern poetics which not only pursues a particularly American idiom, but attempts to capture the relationship between language and the world it describes. Part essay, part poem, Spring and All is a landmark of American literature from a poet whose daring search for the outer limits of life both redefined and expanded the meaning of language itself. "e;There is a constant barrier between the reader and his consciousness of immediate contact with the world. If there is an ocean it is here."e; In Spring and All, Williams identifies the incomprehensible nature of consciousness as the single most important subject of poetry. Accused of being "e;heartless"e; and "e;cruel,"e; of producing "e;positively repellant"e; works of art in order to "e;make fun of humanity,"e; Williams doesn't so much defend himself as dig in his heels. His poetry is addressed "e;[t]o the imagination"e; itself; it seeks to break down the "e;the barrier between sense and the vaporous fringe which distracts the attention from its agonized approaches to the moment."e; When he states that "e;so much depends / upon // a red wheel / barrow,"e; he refers to the need to understand the nature of language, which keeps us in touch with the world. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of William Carlos Williams' Spring and All is a classic of American literature reimagined for modern readers.