In October, 1939, William Carlos Williams did the first poetry reading in the inaugural season of the Unterberg Poetry Center that included Genevieve Taggard, Merrill Moore, W. H. Auden, Langston Hughes, and Marianne Moore.
Image credit: Love the Words: A Virtual Exhibition at 92Y
An archive project at the Poetry Center at 92Y currently features over 850 recordings from 1949–2021, including materials of interest to readers of William Carlos Williams:
- William Carlos Williams: A Sort of Song: a reading by Williams at the Center in January, 1954, that includes “A Sort of a Song,” “The Maneuver,” “Seafarer,” “The Three Graces,” “Paterson, Episode 17,” “The Descent” and “Fish.”
- 75 at 75: Kay Ryan on William Carlos Williams: an installment in a special project of the Poetry Center’s 75th anniversary. Authors were invited to listen to a recording from the archive and write a response. Kay Ryan’s response was recorded at 92Y on January 27, 1954.
- The William Carlos Williams Memorial Program: this audio recording of Denise Levertov and Robert Lowell, on November 20, 1966, includes an introduction to Williams, Levertov reading letters from Williams, her reflections on poetry, and readings (and brief remarks) on a sequence of poems by Williams: “The Hunters in the Snow,” “The Wood Thrush,” “Paul,” “The Dance,” “The Turtle,” “Heel and Toe to the End,” and “Poem.” The event also features Lowell reading (and offering commentary) on a selection of Williams poems: “The Widow’s Lament in Springtime,” “By the Road to the Contagious Hospital,” “Horse Show,” “To Elsie,” “Yachts,” “A Unison,” “These,” and excerpts from “Paterson” and “Asphodel, that Greeny Flower.” The audio includes excerpts from Albert Waller’s In the American Grain (1964), a half-hour program on WCBS-TV celebrating the life and work of Williams.
- The 92Y Literary Audio Collection: this collection includes recordings of events featuring many poets, including E. E. Cummings, T. S. Eliot, Nadine Gordimer, W.H. Auden, Tony Kushner, Galway Kinnell, Cynthia Ozick, and many others, the collection covers poetry, literature, storytelling, criticism, biography, journalism, and scholarship.
The archive project, generously funded by the Mellon Foundation, features over 850 recordings from 1949-2021, with more to come. For access to additional search tools, visit the research portal.
