Mentoring Mavericks: The Influence of William Carlos Williams on the West Coast Poetry Renaissance

abstract:This essay focuses on the impact of the period of William Carlos Williams's literary career in which he was most publicly visible on the West Coast, primarily through a pair of reading tours, and his subsequent influence on a set of poets who worked as editors or co-editors of poetry magazines in Southern California. In particular, literary activists who were poets, editors, and publishers, such as Paul Vangelisti and Lyn Hejinian, championed the work of those who largely absorbed Williams's impact after his death. These poets are radically diverse, ranging from Charles Bukowski to Rae Armantrout, Kit Robinson, Ron Silliman, and Larry Eigner. All of these poets contributed to the maturation of the West Coast Poetry Renaissance through the remainder of the last century.