Parker Tyler Correspondence from Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams (Ms.79.13)

The materials within the Parker Tyler Collection are divided into two chronologically-arranged series: one for the 14 letters of Pound and the second for the 28 pieces of correspondence from Williams.

The 14 Pound letters date from 1930-1937, and, while idiosyncratic in style and replete with obscure references, do contain information about the writer's personal life, his philosophy of literature, his economic and political theories, and his evaluation of contemporary poets such as T.S. Eliot and Wallace Stevens.

The 28 letters from Williams, in contrast, focus almost entirely on the poet's literary theories and on his analysis of his own and Tyler's growth as writers and critics. In particular, Williams discusses the development and future of American poetry, the roles that Eliot, Pound, and others have played in the development and future of American poetry, and his perceptions on how his own poetic style has evolved and may influence American literature as a whole.