William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)

Recorded at the 92nd St. Y, NYC, Jan. 25, 1954

from Totally Corrupt (Giorno Poetry Systems, 1972)

The recordings were originally compiled and published from Keele University, England, by Dr. Richard Swigg in 1992 and 1993. PennSound & UbuWeb gratefully acknowledges the scholarship and editing of Dr. Swigg in making this Williams sound archive available.







1. Reading for the National Council of Teachers of English and Columbia University Press Contemporary Poets series — January 9, 1942



1. The Red Wheelbarrow (0:11): MP3

2. Tract (2:34): MP3

3. The Defective Record (0:28): MP3

4. To a Poor Old Woman (0:27): MP3

5. A Coronal (0:40): MP3

6. To Elsie (1:45): MP3

7. The Wind Increases (0:27): MP3

8. Classic Scene (0:28): MP3



complete recording (7:04): MP3 (7:04)

2. Reading for The Library of Congress Recording Laboratory — May 5, 1945



1. Sonnet 1909 (Martin and Katherine) : MP3

2. Paterson: The Falls : MP3

3. Peace on Earth : MP3

4. Postlude : MP3

5. Pastoral (When I was younger) :

6. Pastoral (The little sparrows) : MP3

8. Portrait of a Woman in Bed : MP3

9. Sympathetic Portrait of a Child : MP3

10. Spring Strains : MP3

11. Dedication for a Plot of Ground (incomplete) : MP3

12. Love Song (I lie here thinking of you) : MP3

13. Overture to a Dance of Locomotives : MP3

14. Complaint : MP3

15. The Cold Night : MP3

16. Primrose : MP3

17. Queen-Anne's-Lace : MP3

18. To a Friend Concerning Several Ladies : MP3

19. Youth and Beauty : MP3

20. The Thinker : MP3

21. The Nightingales : MP3

22. Widow's Lament in Springtime : MP3

23. Light Hearted William : MP3

24. Spring and All : MP3

25. The Farmer : MP3

26. The Eyeglasses : MP3

27. Shoot it Jimmy! : MP3

28. To Elsie : MP3

29. The Red Wheelbarrow : MP3

30. Rigamarole : MP3

31. It is a Living Coral : MP3

32. The Bull : MP3

33. The Botticellian Trees : MP3

34. Flowers by the Sea : MP3

35. The Yachts : MP3

36. The Term : MP3

37. A Sort of a Song : MP3

38. The Dance (In Brueghel's great picture) : MP3

39. Burning the Christmas Greens : MP3

40. In Sisterly Fashion : MP3

41. The World Narrowed to a Point : MP3

42. The Hounded Lovers : MP3

43. The Cure : MP3

44. The Rose (The stillness of the rose) : MP3

45. Perfection : MP3

46. The Last Turn : MP3

47. The Aftermath : MP3

48. The Yellow Chimney : MP3

49. Raleigh Was Right :MP3

50. A Night in June :MP3



Complete Recording (0:00): mp3





3. Reading at NBC Studios, Washington DC, for the Library of Congress Recording Laboratory — October 18, 1947



1. The Semblables : mp3

2. The Catholic Bells : mp3

3. Perpetuum Mobile: The City : mp3

4. Paterson II iii: (excerpt) 'Look for the nul' to 'Alone, watching the May moon above the/trees' : mp3

5. Paterson I i: (excerpt) 'Paterson lies in the valley under the Passaic falls' to 'after a long flight to his cote' : mp3

6. Paterson I iii: (excerpt) 'There is no direction' to 'it drives in among the rocks fitfully' : mp3



Complete Recording (28:14)



4. Reading for a Columbia Records 78 rpm disc in the Series "Pleasure Dome: an audible anthology of modern poetry read by its creators," ed. by Lloyd Frankenberg — May 20, 1949



1. The Young Housewife : mp3

2. The Bull : mp3

3. Poem ('As the cat') : mp3

4. Lear : mp3

5. The Dance ('In Brueghel's great picture') : mp3

6. El Hombre : mp3



Complete Recording (3:45)

5. Reading recorded by Richard Wirtz Emerson, 9 Ridge Road, Rutherford, NJ. Probably broadcast in Voices, WOSU, Columbus — October 7, 1950



1. Choral: The Pink Church : mp3

2. Portrait of a Lady : mp3

3. Tract : mp3

4. Pastoral : mp3

5. A Poem for Norman Macleod : mp3

6. To Waken an Old Lady : mp3

7. The Red Wheelbarrow : mp3

8. This is Just to Say : mp3

9. The Bull : mp3

10. Perpetuum Mobile: The City : mp3

11. Poem ('As the cat') : mp3

12. Danse Russe : mp3

13. The Widow's Lament in Springtime : mp3

14. The Dance ('In Brueghel's great picture') : mp3

15. Lear : mp3

16. Mama : mp3

17. New Mexico : mp3

18. The Lion : mp3

19. St Francis Einstein of the Daffodils : mp3



Complete Recording (21:27)



6. Reading and Commentary at UCLA.

November 15, 1950

"In Sisterly Fashion," "The Dance ('In Brueghel's great picture')," "Franklin Square," "Raleigh Was Right," "At the Faucet of June," "The Universality of Things," "Rigamarole," "To Elsie," "Spring and All," "The Pot of Flowers," "It is a Living Coral," "All the Fancy Things," "Paterson: The Falls," "Poem ('As the cat')," "Between Walls".

Complete Recording (36:53)

7. Reading and Commentary recorded by Eyvind Earle at his home in Hillview Park Avenue, Van Nuys, San Fernando Valley, California.

November 16, 1950

"In Sisterly Fashion," "Tract," "Smell!," "Flowers by the Sea," "The Poor," "To Elsie," "This is Just to Say," "Impromptu: The Suckers," "All the Fancy Things," "It is a Living Coral," "Young Sycamore," "The Cod Head," "The Bull," "Poem ('As the cat')," "Perpetuum Mobile: The City," "The Widow's Lament in Springtime," "Arrival," "Great Mullen," "Queen-Anne's-Lace," "Overture to a Dance of Locomotives" (incomplete).

Complete Recording (27:51)



8. Interview on The Mary Margaret McBride Show, WJZ Radio.

December 4, 1950

Recites "A Black Black Cloud" and "The Red Wheelbarrow".

Complete Recording (25:03)



9. Interview with John W. Gerber.

Recorded by John W. Gerber at 9 Ridge Road, Rutherford, New Jersey in June 1950. Broadcast January 13, 1951 by either WNBC or WNYC.

Recites "A Black Black Cloud". Reads: "Danse Russe," "This is Just to Say," "Ol' Bunk's Band," "Portrait of a Lady," "El Hombre".

Complete Recording (48:10)



10. Speech on presenting the Russell Loines Award for Poetry to John Crowe Ransom, National Institute of Arts and Letters, New York.

May 25, 1951

Complete Recording (3:21)



11. Reading and Commentary recorded by Kenneth Burke at his home in Andover, NJ.

June 21, 1951

"The Desert Music," "The Cod Head" (incomplete), "Burning the Christmas Greens," "A Sort of a Song," "Paterson I iii (excerpt): 'How Strange you are, you idiot!' to 'his mind drinks of desire'," "Tract," "Apres le Bain," "Spring is Here Again, Sir," "May 1st Tomorrow".

Complete Recording (27:18)



12. Interview on The Mary Margaret McBride Show, WABC Radio.

September 26, 1951

Recites "A Black Black Cloud".

Complete Recording (26:59)



13. Reading and Commentary at Harvard University.

December 4, 1951

"A Marriage Ritual," "Burning the Christmas Greens," "The Visit," "The Lion," "Spring and All," "This is Just to Say" (two readings), "On Gay Wallpaper," "Flowers by the Sea," "To a Poor Old Woman," "The Yachts," "History," "Virtue," "Smell!," "Struggle of Wings" (incomplete), "To Greet a Letter-Carrier," "At the Bar," "These," "Perfection," "Fertile," "Chanson," "Design for November," "Picture of a Nude in a Machine Shop," "The Hurricane," "Venus over the Desert," "The Birth of Venus".

Complete Recording (45:52)



14. Paper read at the symposium "Will the Creative Arts Thrive or Degenerate during the Next Fifty Years?," Niagara Frontier Convocation, University of Buffalo.

December 7, 1951

Complete Recording (12:59)



15. Reading and Commentary at Princeton University.

March 19, 1952

"Portrait of a Lady," "El Hombre," "Tract," "Pastoral ('The little sparrow')," "Smell!," "Queen-Anne's-Lace," "Great Mullen," "Waiting," "The Hunter," "Arrival," "The Widow's Lament in Springtime," "To Elsie," "The Red Wheelbarrow," "This is Just to Say," "Poem ('As the cat')," "Flowers by the Sea," "To a Poor Old Woman," "The Catholic Bells," "The Sea-Elephant," "A Unison," "The Desert Music".

Complete Recording (58:43)



16. At the Conference of the Indiana College English Association, Hanover College, Indiana.

May 16, 1952

Complete Morning Address - Lecture, Reading, Commentary (35:06)

Reads: "Smell!," "Paterson II iii (excerpt): 'Look for the nul' to 'endless and indestructible'".

Complete Evening Address - Reading and Commentary (18:04)

"Portent," "The Botticellian Trees," "Flowers by the Sea," "To a Mexican Pig- Bank" (two readings), "To a Poor Old Woman," "Pastoral ('When I was younger')," "To Elsie," "On Gay Wallpaper".



17. Reading and Commentary at the 92nd Street YM-YWHA Poetry Center, New York.

January 27, 1954

"A Sort of Song," "Burning the Christmas Greens," "A Vision of Labor: 1931," "The Yellow Chimney," "Franklin Square" (two readings), "Labrador," "The Apparition," "The Maneuver," "The Horse," "The Act," "Seafarer," "The Three Graces," "Paterson: Episode 17," "Ol' Bunk's Band," "A Unison," "The Descent," "The Yellow Flower," "The Host," "The Orchestra," "Spring and All," "Between Walls," "On Gay Wallpaper," "Fish".

Complete Recording (1:15:46)



18. Interview on The Mary Margaret McBride Show, WABC Radio.

March 25, 1954

Recites "A Black Black Cloud". Reads "The Host" and "The Orchestra".

Complete Recording (10:24)



19. Interview on the NBC radio series Anthology.

March 26, 1954

Reads "The Descent," "The Host" and "The Orchestra".

Complete Recording (21:01)



20. Talk on the NBC radio series Collector's Item.

March 28, 1954

Complete Recording (5:03)



21. Reading at his home in Rutherford, NJ.

June 6, 1954

"The Descent," "To Daphne and Virginia," "The Orchestra," "For Eleanor and Bill Monahan," "The Yellow Flower," "The Host," "Of Asphodel, That Greeny Flower I (excerpt): 'Of Asphodel, that greeny flower' to 'to sing to you'; 'My heart rouses' to end of Book I," "The Botticellian Trees," "Flowers by the Sea," "The Yachts," "The Catholic Bells," "Smell!," "Fish," "Primrose," "To Elsie," "Between Walls," "On Gay Wallpaper," "The Red Lily," "Seafarer".

Complete Reading (43:12)



22. Interview with Francis Mason on Voice of America, NBC Radio.

June 18, 1954

Reads "The Descent".

Complete Recording (7:20)



23. Reading for the Voice of America, NBC Radio.

1954

"Poem ('As the cat')," "The Young Housewife," "Light Hearted William," "The Dance ('In Brueghel's great picture')," "The Bull," "The Yachts".

Complete Reading (5:59)



24. Lecture: "The Modern Poem," Oreon E. Scott symposium, "The Writer and His Public," Washington University in St. Louis.

May 8, 1955

Complete Recording (57:02)



25. Reading and Commentary at the University of California, Berkeley.

May 19, 1955

"Spring and All," "The Pot of Flowers," "Rain," "The Botticellian Trees," "To a Mexican Pig-Bank" (two readings), "To a Poor Old Woman," "The Catholic Bells," "A Poem for Norman Macleod," "Danse Russe," "The Late Singer," "At the Faucet of June," "The Avenue of Poplars," "The Sun," "A Sort of a Song," "The Dance ('In Brueghel's great picture')," "The Gentle Rejoinder," "Seafarer," "May 1st Tomorrow," "A Unison," "The Descent," "To Daphne and Virginia," "The Orchestra," "Asphodel, That Greeny Flower I (excerpt): 'I speak in figures' to end of book I".

Complete Recording (50:59)



26. Reading and Commentary at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

June 1, 1955

"Seafarer," "A Unison," "The Descent," "To Daphne and Virginia," "The Orchestra," "Asphodel, That Greeny Flower I (excerpt): 'I speak in figures' to end of book I," "The Ivy Crown," "Asphodel, That Greeny Flower: Coda".

Complete Recording (38:14)



27. Reading and Commentary at UCLA.

May 1955

"The Botticellian Trees," "Flowers by the Sea," "Primrose," "Spring and All," "To Elsie," "On Gay Wallpaper," "The Red Lily," "The Sun," "A Sort of a Song," "Seafarer," "May 1st Tomorrow," "A Unison," "The Sea-Elephant," "The Descent," "To Daphne and Virginia," "The Orchestra," "Shadows," "Asphodel, that Greeny Flower: Coda".

Complete Recording (1:15:57)



28. Reading and Commentary recorded by Eyvind Earle at his home in Hillview Park Ave., San Fernando Valley, Van Nuys, California.

May 1955

"Peace on Earth," "The Botticellian Trees," "Flowers by the Sea," "Primrose," "Spring and All," "On Gay Wallpaper," "The Red Lily," "The Sun," "A Sort of a Song," "May 1st Tomorrow," "A Unison," "The Descent," "To Daphne and Virginia," "The Orchestra," "The Yellow Flower," "The Host," "The Mental Hospital Garden," "Asphodel, That Greeny Flower I (excerpt): 'I speak in figures' to end of book I," "The Ivy Crown," "Shadows," "Asphodel, That Greeny Flower: Coda (excerpt): 'Inseparable from the fire' to 'which John Donne'," where the recording breaks off.

Complete Recording (59:03)



29. Interview on "A Tribute to Ezra Pound," broadcast by WYBC, Yale University Radio.

December 5, 1955

Complete Recording (1:04:24)



30. Reading and Commentary at the University of Puerto Rico.

April 1956

Reads "Asphodel I".

Complete Recording (14:07)



31. Interview with John Wingate on Nightbeat, WABD television.

September 4, 1957

Complete Recording (24:03)



32. Interviews with Walter Sutton.

Recorded October 11 & 20, November 3 & 15, 1960

Complete Recording (1:59:38)



33. Interviews with Stanley Koehler.

Recorded March 29 & 30, 1962

Reads a few lines from "The Descent" and "The Orchestra".

Complete Recording (31:52)