Whitman was on the right track, but when he switched to the English intonation, and followed the English method of recording the feet, he didn't realize it was a different method, which was not satisfactory to an American" (Plimpton, 169). This distinction that Williams makes between his own poetry and Whitman's suggests that the search for a culture idiom is crucial to the development of a viable poetic persona. Whitman is successful in his appeal to a common American audience primarily through his use imagery, and the true value of Williams' poetry may be found in his extremely subtle, variable, and exquisite form. Both poets take a pragmatic approach to their vocation, using whatever they need to successfully commune with their audience. According to Williams, a poet must write about "things with which he is familiar, simple things - at the same time to detach them from ordinary experience to the imagination" ( 197). This is the most obvious advice that a writer can offer: "Write what you know." And that is what Walt Whitman and William Carlos Williams do, as well as writing what their audience knows. In other words, both establish a relationship with their readers by appealing to a sense of the familiar and ordinary, "that life becomes actual only when it is identified with ourselves". Whitman uses imagery that acts as examples of American culture, a framework in which Americans can identify. Williams uses simple images of simple things, and a natural rhythm that seem to directly reflect his own thought processes, that of a modern American. The techniques of both authors create a distinctive poetic persona. The result is a substantial relationship between author and reader suggesting and providing common experience. ...
