With the publication of this book, Charles Tomlinson's edition of Williams's
Selected Poems
, New Directions has introduced a gathering larger and more comprehensive than the original 1963 edition.
Opening with Professor Tomlinson's superbly clear and helpful introduction this selection reflects the most up-to-date Williams scholarship. In addition to including many more pieces, Tomlinson has organized the whole in chronological order. "It isn't what he [the poet] says that counts as a work of art," Williams maintained, "it's what he makes, with such intensity of purpose that it lives with an intrinsic movement of its own to verify its authenticity."