32 pages 1 hour read

William Carlos Williams

Paterson

Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Adult | Published in 1946

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Themes

The Relationship Between Nature and the Body

One of the major themes throughout all five books of Paterson is the relationship between the natural landscape and the human body. Paterson’s connection to the world around him echoes the lineage of Transcendentalist ideas, from Ralph Waldo Emerson to his poetic heirs, including Walt Whitman. In the essay “Nature,” Emerson describes the narrator’s relationship to the landscape as being similar to an eyeball—all-seeing, absorbing everything around it without putting much back into the landscape or altering it in substantial ways. Similarly, Paterson walks through the landscape—more abstractly in other books, most concretely in Book 2—observing and absorbing what he sees around him. Paterson responds to an inquiry asking what he does for work by saying, “What do I do? I listen, to the water falling. (No sound of it here but with the wind!) This is my entire occupation” (45). He answers this way even though, from other aspects of the narrative, the reader learns that he is a doctor and a poet. He considers this answer to be the most important one.

Additional connections between the body and the landscape recur between the man Paterson and the city Paterson. Early in Book 1, “Paterson lies in the valley under the

blurred text

blurred text

Related Titles

By William Carlos Williams

Study Guide

logo

Approach of Winter

William Carlos Williams

Approach of Winter

William Carlos Williams

Study Guide

logo

Between Walls

William Carlos Williams

Between Walls

William Carlos Williams

Plot Summary

logo

In the American Grain

William Carlos Williams

In the American Grain

William Carlos Williams

Study Guide

logo

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

William Carlos Williams

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

William Carlos Williams

Study Guide

logo

Spring and All

William Carlos Williams

Spring and All

William Carlos Williams

Study Guide

logo

Spring Storm

William Carlos Williams

Spring Storm

William Carlos Williams

Study Guide

logo

The Red Wheelbarrow

William Carlos Williams

The Red Wheelbarrow

William Carlos Williams

Study Guide

logo

The Young Housewife

William Carlos Williams

The Young Housewife

William Carlos Williams

Study Guide

logo

This Is Just to Say

William Carlos Williams

This Is Just to Say

William Carlos Williams

Study Guide

logo

To Elsie

William Carlos Williams

To Elsie

William Carlos Williams

Study Guide

logo

To Waken An Old Lady

William Carlos Williams

To Waken An Old Lady

William Carlos Williams