Miller Williams

Miller Williams. Courtesy Arkansas Writers.

Miller Williams
Born	Stanley Miller Williams April 8, 1930(1930-Template:MONTHNUMBER-08) Hoxie, Arkansas
Occupation	poet, translator, publisher
Nationality	United States

Stanley Miller Williams (April 8, 1930 - January 1, 2015) was an American poet, translator, and editor. He authored over 25 books and won several awards, but s perhaps best known for reading a poem at Bill Clinton's 1997 inauguration.

Life

Williams was born in Hoxie, Arkansas to Ernest Burdette and Ann Jeanette Miller Williams.

He was educated in Arkansas, enrolling at Hendrix College in Conway and eventually transferring to Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, where he published his debut collection of poems, Et Cetera, while getting his bachelor's degree in biology. He went on to get a masters in zoology at the University of Arkansas in 1952.

He taught in several universities in various capacities, first as a professor of biology and then of English literature, and in 1970 returned to the University of Arkansas as a member of the English Department and the creative writing program. In 1980 he helped found the University of Arkansas Press, where he served as director for nearly 20 years. He was a professor emeritus of literature at the University of Arkansas.

Williams lived in Fayetteville with his wife Jordan. He was the father of Lucinda Williams, a 3-time Grammy Award winning country music, folk, and rock singer, named "America's best songwriter" by TIME magazine in 2002. He had 2 other children, Karyn and Robert.

He died in a Fayetteville hospital, aged 84, after struggling with Alzheimer's Disease for a number of years.

Recognition

Williams received the 1963-1964 Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship.

He won the 1991 Poets' Prize for his collection Living on the Surface.

In 1997, Bill Clinton selected Williams to read his poem "Of History and Hope" at Clinton's 2nd inauguration, instantly bringing Williams to national attention. In addition, President Clinton presented Williams with the National Arts Award for his lifelong contribution to the arts.

Publications

Poetry

• A Circle of Stone. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1964
  • bilingual Spanish/English edition, Recital, Ediciones Oceano. Valparaiso, Chile: 1965.
• So Long at the Fair. New York: Dutton, 1968.
• The Only World There Is. New York: Dutton, 1971.
• Halfway from Hoxie: New and selected poems. New York: Dutton, 1973.
• Why God Permits Evil: New poems. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1977.
• Distractions. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1981.
• The Boys on Their Bony Mules. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1983.
• Imperfect Love. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1986.
• Living on the Surface: New and selected poems. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1989.
• Adjusting to the Light. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1992.
• Points of Departure. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1995.
• The Ways We Touch. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1997.
• Some Jazz a While: Collected poems. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1999.
• Time and the Tilting Earth: Poems. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University, 2008.

Short fiction

• The Lives of Kelvin Fletcher. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2002.

Non-fiction

• The Poetry of John Crowe Ransom. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1972.
•  Patterns of Poetry: A encyclopedia of forms. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1986.
• Making a Poem: Some thoughts about poetry and the people who write it. Bton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 2006.

Translated

• Nicanor Parra, Poems and Antipoems. New York: New Directions, 1967
• Nicanor Parra, Emergency Poems. New York: New Directions, 1972.
• Giuseppe Belli, Sonnets. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1981.

Edited

• 19 Poetas de Hoy en los EEUU. Valparaiso, Chile: U.S. Information Service, 1964.
• Southern Writings in the Sixties: Fiction (edited with John William Corrington). Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1966.
• Southern Writing in the Sixties: Poetry (edited with John William Corrington). Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1967.
• Chile: An anthology of new writing. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1968.
• John Ciardi, The Achievement of John Ciardi: A comprehensive selection of his poems, with a critical introduction. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman, 1969.
• Contemporary Poetry in America. New York: Random House, 1973.
•  How Does a Poem Mean? (edited with John Ciardi). Boston: Houghton, 1975.
•  All of Us and None of You, and other original fiction and poetry with a symposium on book reviews in America (edited with an introduction by George Garrett; assistant editor, with James Whitehead)). Garden City, NY: Anchor Press, 1975.
•  Railroad: Trains and train people in American culture (edited with James A. McPherson). New York: Random House, 1976.
• A Roman Collection: Stories, poems, and other good pieces by the writing residents of the American Academy in Rome. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1980.
• Ozark, Ozark: A Hillside Reader. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1981.
• John Ciardi, Stations of the Air: Thirty-three poems (selector and arranger). Kansas City, MO: BkMk Press, 1993.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy the Poetry Foundation.

Audio / video

Miller Williams Compassion

Miller Williams Reading the innaugural poem at Bill Clinton's second innauguration in 1996

Dust - Miller Williams

• The Poetry of Miller Williams (cassette). New York, J. Norton, 1969.
• Poems of Miller Williams (LP). New Rochelle, NY: Spoken Arts, 1982.
• Miller Williams (cassette). Kansas City, MO: New Letters Magazine, 1985.

Except where noted, discographical information courtesy WorldCat.

See also

• List of U.S. poets

References

• Burns, Michael (ed.) 1991. Miller Williams and the Poetry of the Particular. Columbia, Mo: University of Missouri Press.
• Farnsworth, Elizabeth. Jan. 16, 1996. Interview with Miller Williams. American Poetry/PBS Online Newshour. [1]
• Rosenthal, Harry. Jan 20, 1997. "Poet Addresses Inaugural Event." Washington Post. [2]
• "Miller Williams." 2003. Entry in Contemporary Authors Online. Gale.
• Gatewood, Willard B. October 28, 2009. "Miller Williams." Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture

Fonds

• Miller Williams Collection, 1950-1995. Fayetteville, AR: University of Arkansas Libraries, Special Collections Division, Manuscript Collection 1387.

External links

Poems

• "Going Deaf"
• Miller Williams at Poetry 180: "Love Poem with Toast," "Animals," "One Day a Woman"
• Six poems by Miller Williams, Arkansas Times
• Miller Williams b. 1930 at the Poetry Foundation.

Prose

• "Nobody Plays the Piano, but We Like to Have It in the House", Poetry Daily

Audio / video

• Miller Williams at YouTube

Books

• Miller Williams at Amazon.com

About

• Miller Williams (1930- ) in the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture
• "Miller Williams, plain-spoken Arkansas poet, dies at 84" obituary, New York Times
• "Miller and Lucinda Williams: All in the family" at the Academy of American Poets