Enchantments With Visual Art

William Carlos Williams, a master of the modernist school in poetry, is now judged to be among the most important poets writing between the wars. His poems are remarkable for the local color in language and the concise and minute description. Ever since the Second World War, the influence of his poetry has been reaching farther and farther; most subsequent poets have accepted some of his creative points about poetry. Williams dedicated his whole life to innovation of American poetry both in structure and theme. The peculiar style of his poems has been decisively influenced by modern painting and photographic theories and techniques, which are the most important source for his poem writing. His contact with painting took two different forms, describing actual paintings and using art technique in the construction of his poems. This thesis consists of three chapters, discussing respectively the revelation and impact exerted by the cubist collage technique, the perspectives of American modern artists and photography ?a newly accepted visual art. And all the discussion is built on the art characteristics of his poems, which display his achievements in modern poetry innovation.