Asphodel, That Greeny Flower & Other Love Poems

William Carlos Williams

Asphodel celebrates unforgettably Williams’ love for his wife Floss, [going] so far as to say, ‘Death is not the end of it’… Asphodel stands impressively as the poet’s personal credo, a late, long poem central to his entire work.

World Literature Today

Asphodel, That Greeny Flower & Other Love Poems

Poetry by William Carlos Williams

“Asphodel, That Greeny Flower,” first published when William Carlos Williams was seventy-two, forms the heart of this new selection of his love poems. Robert Lowell praised “Asphodel” for delivering “to us what was impossible, something that was poetry and beyond poetry.” Lyrical and moving, elegant and supple, it is charged with sheer musical pleasure. In addition to “Asphodel,” eleven other important love poems have been chosen from the whole range of Williams’ writing life––a life whose history of love is reviewed by Herbert Leibowitz in his incisive introduction. Leibowitz, editor of Parnassus: Poetry in Review magazine and author of forthcoming critical biography of William Carlos Williams, considers “Asphodel” in the context of Williams’ singularly non-traditional love poetry, and distinguishes it as his “most eloquent and unorthodox love poem, a quest for ’abiding love’ in the gathering shadows of death.”

Buy Asphodel, That Greeny Flower & Other Love Poems

Paperback(published Nov, 01 1994)

ISBN
9780811212830
Price US
8
Trim Size
5x7
Page Count
64
Portrait of William Carlos Williams

William Carlos Williams

One of the greatest poets of the 20th Century, William Carlos Williams is “The cornerstone of New Directions”

Asphodel celebrates unforgettably Williams’ love for his wife Floss, [going] so far as to say, ‘Death is not the end of it’… Asphodel stands impressively as the poet’s personal credo, a late, long poem central to his entire work.

World Literature Today