윌리엄 칼로스 윌리엄즈의 보편성 인식 ―지평의 확대

Abstract

This study examines the notions of universality William Carlos Williams tries to not constitute but recognize in the world of things (or objects). He finds universality embodied in the particular. Each individual that shows up in his poems has its own uniqueness, yet is ordinary at the same time. As readers see the remarkable presence of each object, they can feel some experiences common to them because they have experienced situations each object is constituting with its own individuality and interactions between the objects. Even locality becomes universal. As a practiced place with history and heredity, each locality shares empirical reality and processes of cultural transformation with one another. This sharing makes it possible for particularities to lead to universality. Most of Williams’ poems are created from acute perceptions of everyday people and objects, and from their raw potentiality. His frequent use of juxtaposition of images offers multiple suggestions. Thus, his poems serve as open-ended fields for process of perception and vision. For readers to capture the suggestions, first they are required to free from their pre-conceptions or preoccupations to lead to their own pure awareness. This awareness refers to the clarity and intensity of vision. Williams believes that imagination and this vision are combined to form aesthetic, reflective, and creative meditation as a way to gain universal vision. He asks us to discern or discover universality in the particulars and expand our horizons with this vision.