W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 1996 A Knowable World: America, the City, and the Thematics of Book Five of William Carlos Williams' "Paterson" Gaston De Bearn College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.edu/etd Part of the American Literature Commons Recommended Citation De Bearn, Gaston, "A Knowable World: America, the City, and the Thematics of Book Five of William Carlos Williams' "Paterson"" (1996). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects.21220/s2-bmy4-zy38 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact scholarworks@wm.
A KNOWABLE WORLD: America, the City, and the Thematics of Book Five of William Carlos Williams' Paterson A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of English The College of William and Mary in Virginia In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts by Gaston de Beam 1996 APPROVAL SHEET This thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Gaston de Bearn Approved, July 1996 Christopher MacGowan Walt Wenska ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The writer wishes to express his appreciation to Professor Christopher MacGowan, under whose guidance this thesis was composed, for his patient instruction and careful criticism throughout the process. ABSTRACT The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate whether Book V of William Carlos Williams' Paterson completely maintains, as Williams claimed, "a unity directly continuous" with the first four books. There are two distinct types of unity contained within the poem's fragmented form: narrative and thematic. Williams acknowledged that Book V disrupts the narrative unity of the poem, and thus it is the thematic unity which he hoped he had maintained.
To a great extent, Williams succeeds in maintaining the thematic unity of the first four books. He incorporates the central themes of art and renewal into Book V, and he develops the themes of old age and immortality, themes which are more common to Williams’ 1950’s poems than to Paterson l-IV. Yet Williams stated that a main purpose of Paterson, with its focus on the city, was to be "purely American" by "celebrating the local material" (Interviews 71). The theme of history, specifically as it relates to the local material of Paterson and America in general, is a vital theme, both in the first four books and in the fragments of Book VI, which serves as common link to the poem’s other major themes such as art, renewal, the environment, Native Americans and religion.
Book V, however, in spite of its attention to some of the poem’s major themes, does not rely on the theme of Paterson’s and America’s history to link its concepts, and thereby disrupts the thematic unity of the poem. Some critics, however, such as Michael Bernstein, claim that the history of Paterson, which is a microcosm for America in the poem, is not a fully developed theme in Paterson. Bernstein claims, "It is the political, historical, and economic reality of Paterson, its existence as a city, that is curiously missing, a virtual blank at the poem's core" (Bernstein 209). But others such as Mike Weaver and Benjamin Sankey maintain like Williams that the history of Paterson and America is central to the poem.
A close analysis of the poem reveals how, contrary to Michael Bernstein's conclusion, the theme of Paterson’s and America’s history is intrinsic to the thematic unity of the first four books. Book V, however, refers to the city of Paterson a few times in Parts 1 and 2, but the references do not include any specific events or local details. Part 2 contains two short passages touching on American history and economics, but Part 3 of Book V contains no references to local history or to issues regarding America. Few events specific to the city of Paterson occur in Book V.
In light of the previous books, Book V s marginalized treatment of local events and American causes a significant disruption in the thematic unity_of the poem. Paterson's formative history as well as a majority of the critical responses to Book V reveal that Book V, like Williams' other 1950's poems, has a more relaxed tone than the rest of the poem which was caused mainly by Williams' increasing age and failing health. As Breslin notes, Book V also resolves "discordancies” and tensions which are abundant in the language and images of Books l-IV in a mood of "harmonious affirmation," and my thesis does not dispute Book V s new harmonious mood (Breslin 206). A majority of critics, however, like Breslin, conclude that Book V, because of its harmonies and relaxed tone, is an epilogue or coda.
Yet Book V is thematically related to the previous books of Paterson, and even though there are new themes such as old age and immortality, Book V emerges as more than a mere epilogue or coda. V William Carlos Williams stated in his 1951 Autobiography that with his long poem Paterson he hoped to achieve a poetic form with which he could encompass "the whole knowable world" about himself (Autobiography 391). Williams wrote this just prior to the publication of Book IV of Paterson, and the process of Paterson's development reflects Williams' concerns with portraying this "knowable world." Although Williams made his first notes on the idea for the poem as early as 1925, he revealed the concept of a poem in “4 sections” in 1943 (Paterson xi). Book IV, the intended final book, was published in 1951, but Williams published a fifth book in 1958 and composed three fragments for a projected sixth book in 1961.
A critical debate over Book V centers on Williams' 1958 claim that with Book V he hoped that he maintained "a unity directly continuous with the Paterson of Pat. James Breslin, in William Carlos Williams: An American Artist, concisely describes the debate over the poem's unity: The publication of [Book V], seven years after the apparent completion of the poem, revived the critical debate about the nature and even the existence of the poem’s unity. (205) As Breslin recognizes, the issue of Paterson's unity is central to an analysis of Book V. The critical response has mainly been that Book V violates in some way l the unity of books l-IV.
A major problem with critical discussion on the issue of Book V and the poem’s unity, however, is that critics do not adequately define the term "unity," as Williams used it in 1958. The first four books are characterized by two distinct types of unity: narrative and thematic. The narrative unity of the first four books is what Williams described as the "purely physical aspect" of the poem (Mariani, New World 720). This physical aspect of the poem is the continuous progression of the action from above the Passaic Falls of Paterson, to below the Falls, down the river and finally into the sea at the fourth Book.
Characteristics of the narrative unity of books l-IV include interruptions and digressions with prose and poetry regarding the history of Paterson, New Jersey, and events from Williams' own life. In a July 1958 letter to Edward Dahlberg, Williams conceded that the poem’s narrative, or physical journey, ended with Book IV, but that Book V continued the poem's mental journey: The purely physical aspects of the story, the descent of the river to the sea, was completed. But I in my own person had not died but continued to live and go on thinking. The mind, my own mind persisted.
(Mariani, New World 720) Williams acknowledged that Book V disrupted the poem’s narrative unity and therefore, he hoped he had maintained the thematic unity of the poem. To a great extent, Williams succeeds in maintaining the thematic unity of the 2 first four books. Nevertheless, Williams stated in a mid-to-late 1950’s interview that a main purpose of Paterson, with its focus on the city, was to be ’’purely American" by "celebrating the local material" (Interviews 71). The historical theme of the poem is embodied by the social, economic, environmental and religious background of the locale, mainly of Paterson, which Williams argued was a microcosm for America.
It is this theme of Paterson’s and America’s history which appears briefly in Book V, but does not run consistently through the Book as it does through the first four books and in the Book VI fragments. Although Williams intended Paterson to contain the “whole knowable world” about himself, and although Book V is an essential book which contributes a great deal to his “knowable world,” Book V lacks the key element of history, as it pertains to America and Paterson. The Book VI fragments are significant in that they return the poem to the history of Paterson and America which is intrinsic to the unity of books l-IV. Most critics conclude that Book V is a coda, epilogue or separate poem containing themes more or less unrelated to the first four books (Mariani, New World 700; Martz 155; Breslin 206; Bernstein 213; Peterson 11; Sankey 213).
Breslin concludes that Book V is a coda because it is more similar in tone and theme to Williams’ 1950’s poems (210-11). Breslin writes, "Book V is a coda in which the author reviews earlier episodes and motifs, their discordancies now resolved in a new mood of harmonious affirmation" (Breslin 206). Sankey provides a similar assessment. Louis Martz, in his 1960 essay "The Unicorn in Paterson." also views Book V as a belated epilogue to a concluded poem, but 3 Martz argues that Book V serves to “recapitulate and bind together all the foregoing poem” (Thought 538).
Martz, in this sense, emphasizes the “wholeness” of the poem rather than the discontinuity of Book V (539). The concept of a coda is useful for illustrating that Book V does not fully address the themes of the first four books, but it is not a completely accurate concept to use in defining Book V as a whole. Breslin, Martz and Sankey are correct in noting that Book V reviews earlier episodes and themes, but the Random House Dictionary defines a coda as "a more or less independent passage concluding a composition" (Random House 259). Book V, while it illustrates the new concerns of Williams’ 1950’s poems, still fully addresses many of the earlier books’ issues such as language, art and renewal.
In fact, art and renewal are at the core of Book V. In this respect, Book V does not function as "a more or less independent passage," and the Book VI fragments demonstrate that Book V does not "conclude" the poem. From a thematic standpoint, Book V is not a “coda” in the strictest sense of the word. While as noted above, Book V focuses primarily on the themes of art and renewal which are also important themes of the first four books, Book V also develops the new themes of old age and the immortality of art which are central to much of his 1950’s poetry.
In 1956, Williams explained to Edith Heal some of his reasons for writing Book V: “Paterson V must be written. Why must it be written?. it can’t be categorically stated that death ends anything. When you’re through with sex, with ambition, what can an old man create? Art, of course, a 4 piece of art that will go beyond him.
(I Wanted to Write 22) Williams’ belief that death is conquered by the immortality of art is a major theme which sets both Book V and many of his 1950’s poems apart from his 1940’s poetry.