Call Number:

F0961

Repository:

University of Delaware Library Special Collections

Extent:

2 item

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

MSS 0099, F0961, Raymond Ellsworth Larsson letter to William Carlos Williams, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.

Date:

1969 (inclusive)

Creator:

Larsson, Raymond Ellsworth, 1901-1991

Form:

correspondence

Abstract:

American Catholic poet Raymond Larsson (1901-) wrote to his friend, American poet and physician William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), seeking assistance in gaining release from Rockland State Hospital.

Raymond Ellsworth Larsson (1901-1991) was an American Catholic poet whose work was best known in the 1920s and 1930s.

His poetry appeared in a 1927 issue of

Transition magazine, along with the work of James Joyce, Kay Boyle, Gertrude Stein, Hart Crane, André Gide, and Archibald MacLeish. Wisconsin; a guide to the Badger state, compiled by workers of the Writers’ Program of the Work Projects Administration in the State of Wisconsin, New York, Duell, Sloan and Pearce [c1941].Information derived from the collection.

American poet and pediatrician William Carlos Williams (1883-1963) is most widely known for his five-volume impressionistic poem,

Paterson, published between 1946 and 1958.

In addition to poetry, Williams, who was interested in post-impressionism and cubism, also wrote essays on art, many of which are collected in

A Recognizable Image (1978); as well as novels, such as his White Mule, which was serialized in the literary magazine, Pagany (1930-1933).

In 1963, Williams was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize in poetry.

Garraty, John A. (ed.)Dictionary of American Biography. Supplement Seven 1961-1965. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1981. pp. 788-791.Information derived from the collection.

American Catholic poet Raymond Larsson (1901-1991) wrote to his friend, American poet and physician William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), seeking assistance in gaining release from Rockland State Hospital.

In the fall of 1969, Larsson was committed to the Rockland State Hospital for psychiatric treatment, which, according to his letter, included "treatments by electricity." Larsson complained of ill treatment, outlined some of his behaviors which were viewed as offensive, and lamented the uncertainty of the length of his "imprisonment." Larsson sought Williams's aid in contacting those who might facilitate his release and requested copies of Williams's poems to read.

Accompanying Larsson's letter is a brief handwritten note from Williams to his secretary. Williams requested a letter be typed in triplicate, and one of the copies be sent to Larsson. There is no mention of the content of the letter.