Spring and All
Encyclopedia
William Carlos Williams
's Spring and All is a volume published in 1923 by Robert McAlmon
's Contact Publishing Co. It is a hybrid work made up of alternating sections of prose and free verse
. It might best be understood as a manifesto
of the imagination: the prose passages are a dramatic, energetic, and often cryptic series of statements about the ways in which language can be renewed such that it does not describe the world, but recreates it. These passages are interspersed with poems that demonstrate this recreation in both their form and content. The two most famous sections of Spring and All are poems I and XXII. The former, which opens, "By the road to the contagious hospital," is commonly known by the title "Spring and All," and the latter is generally known as "The Red Wheelbarrow
."
Spring and All was printed in an edition of 300 by Maurice Darantière, the Dijon, France printer who had printed the first edition of James Joyce
's Ulysses
in 1922, and who also printed a range of other significant modernist works. It was never again published as a free-standing book, though the poems and some of the prose sections have been reprinted in various combinations through the years. In 1970, Spring and All in its entirety was republished by New Directions Publishers
along with several other short works in the volume Imaginations, which is still in print. Spring and All is also included in the first volume of Williams' Collected Poems.
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams was an American poet closely associated with modernism and Imagism. He was also a pediatrician and general practitioner of medicine, having graduated from the University of Pennsylvania...
's Spring and All is a volume published in 1923 by Robert McAlmon
Robert McAlmon
Robert Menzies McAlmon was an American author, poet and publisher.-Life:McAlmon was born in Clifton, Kansas, the youngest of ten children of an itinerant Presbyterian minister....
's Contact Publishing Co. It is a hybrid work made up of alternating sections of prose and free verse
Free verse
Free verse is a form of poetry that refrains from consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any other musical pattern.Poets have explained that free verse, despite its freedom, is not free. Free Verse displays some elements of form...
. It might best be understood as a manifesto
Manifesto
A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature. Manifestos relating to religious belief are generally referred to as creeds. Manifestos may also be life stance-related.-Etymology:...
of the imagination: the prose passages are a dramatic, energetic, and often cryptic series of statements about the ways in which language can be renewed such that it does not describe the world, but recreates it. These passages are interspersed with poems that demonstrate this recreation in both their form and content. The two most famous sections of Spring and All are poems I and XXII. The former, which opens, "By the road to the contagious hospital," is commonly known by the title "Spring and All," and the latter is generally known as "The Red Wheelbarrow
The Red Wheelbarrow
The Red Wheelbarrow is a poem by, and often considered the masterwork of, American 20th-century writer William Carlos Williams. The 1923 poem exemplifies the Imagist-influenced philosophy of “no ideas but in things.” This provides another layer of meaning beneath the surface reading...
."
Spring and All was printed in an edition of 300 by Maurice Darantière, the Dijon, France printer who had printed the first edition of James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
's Ulysses
Ulysses (novel)
Ulysses is a novel by the Irish author James Joyce. It was first serialised in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach on 2 February 1922, in Paris. One of the most important works of Modernist literature,...
in 1922, and who also printed a range of other significant modernist works. It was never again published as a free-standing book, though the poems and some of the prose sections have been reprinted in various combinations through the years. In 1970, Spring and All in its entirety was republished by New Directions Publishers
New Directions Publishers
New Directions Publishing Corp. is an independent book publishing company that was founded in 1936 by James Laughlin. The company was incorporated in 1964 as the New Directions Publishing Corporation and operates from New York City, and its books today are distributed by WW Norton & Company. Its...
along with several other short works in the volume Imaginations, which is still in print. Spring and All is also included in the first volume of Williams' Collected Poems.