Paterson

“Paterson is a long poem in four parts—that a man in himself is a city, beginning, seeking, achieving and concluding his life in ways which the various aspects of a city may embody—if imaginatively conceived—any city, all the details of which may be made to voice his most intimate convictions.”

This quote comes from the preface to Paterson. Here, Williams explains his purpose in writing the book: of a man embodying the city and vice versa. Despite the collaging of both poetry and prose, and despite the number of poems present in the book, Williams describes the book as a long poem (rather than as a collection).

“the city

the man, an identity—it can’t be

otherwise—an

interpenetration, both ways”

In these lines, Williams explicitly describes the relationship between Paterson the man and Paterson the city. Instead of one being part of the other, he describes the two as an “interpenetration” of both. Williams is personifying the city.

“...never in this world

will a man live well in his body

save dying—and not know himself

dying; yet that is

the design. Renews himself

thereby, in addition and subtraction,

walking up and down”

Williams connects a man living inside his own body to the Peripatetic philosophy; this Everyman renews his body through walking. This passage foreshadows Paterson’s walk through the park in Book 2 and connects to Transcendentalist ideas explored elsewhere in his text.