William Carlos Williams’ cubism: The sensory dimension

Abstract

Cubism as a whole complicates the idea of the present as something which can be simply identified, as something which we are in possession of and which we can identify with immediately... Cubist art concerns itself with an indivisible unfamiliarity which permeates our experience of the present and our involvement with it.Timothy Mathews: Apollinaire and Cubism? (1988) AbstractWilliam Carlos Williams' cubism1: The sensory dimension In this article the cubism o f the American poet William Carlos Williams is discussed as a product o f sensory elements combined with techniques derived from the work o f the visual artists associated with this style. Through the study o f a number o f poems written in the period between 1917 and 1923 it is shown that Williams employs the cubist intersection o f sensory planes in particular to create a sensory dimension that not only renews the traditions and mode o f poetry, but also reveals the cubist concern with the defamiliaraation and foregrounding o f fragments o f everyday experiences. Ultimately the article is an attempt to indicate Williams ' incorporation o f a sensual dimension in creating a style that achieves modernist presentationWhen used with an upper-case 'C', Cubism / Cubist refers to the movement of Cubism in the visual arts around the first two decades of the century (1900)(1901)(1902)(1903)(1904)(1905)(1906)(1907)(1908)(1909)(1910)(1911)(1912)(1913)(1914)(1915).A lower-case 'c' is used (cubism / cubist) to indicate both literary and visual styles which share many characteristics with Cubism but do not belong to that specific movement. It further indicates the general spirit of the style without limiting it to the work of the visual artists normally associated with Cubism.