William Carlos Williams was born in Rutherford, New Jersey and followed in the footsteps of Ezra Pound to become a principal poet in the Imagist movement. Williams tried to separate himself from European cultures and traditions by playing with meter and lineation to invent a singularly American style.

As for interesting things about Williams – you probably didn’t know that Williams married Florence Herman after his proposal to her older sister was refused. You also probably didn’t know that Williams’s primary occupation was not as a writer, but actually as a doctor. He worked as a doctor by day and wrote on nights and weekends. Williams was highly opposed to European influence on American culture and felt strongly that American literature should be unique to American culture. Williams was known for his opposition to European influence, which gained him popularity in America; however, two days after his death in 1963, a British publisher decided to publish all of Williams’s poems.

When one considers the canon of American literature, one cannot forget to mention Herman Melville, writer of Moby Dick, the epic sea-tale concerning a great white whale. Melville was born 1819 in New York City and spent most of his childhood in Albany as well as Pittsfield, Massachusetts. When he was 21, Melville and a shipmate deserted their ship at the Marquesas Islands and spent a summer living with the islanders of Tapai Valley. This experience inspired his first novel, Typee, and consequently gained him the title, “man who lived among the cannibals.” Melville’s Typee and the several novels published after it were in general, well received both by the public in England and America. It wasn’t until he undertook the task of writing Moby Dick that his writing career altered considerably.

Melville intended for Moby Dick to be a spiritual and political allegory and wanted to present voyage as a metaphor for philosophical journey in the same manner he did with his third novel, Mardi, despite how poorly it did. In a letter to his literary friend Nathaniel Hawthorne, Melville expressed his vision of Moby Dick as a “Gospels in this century.” Written in stages, Melville knew that his novel, when finished, would not be received well nor would it be able to financially support him. However, Melville felt compelled to finish the novel even though its publication did in fact ruin his reputation as a writer for the rest of his life.

After Moby Dick and the publication of his novel Pierre, which further drove his literary career into the ground on the grounds that he was also insane, Melville began writing anonymously for monthly newspapers in order to financially sustain his family. And for some time he also gave lectures across the southeast. During the last few decades of Melville’s life, he wrote poetry, of which he published two volumes. He died in 1891 leaving unfinished Billy Budd, Sailor. It wasn’t until 1919 that Melville achieved the recognition for Moby Dick and literary prominence we grant him today.

By: Kristen Barbour

So, we are all pretty familiar with Thomas Jefferson (or you should be). He was one of the founding fathers of our country, the primary author of our Declaration of Independence, and the third president of our country. He publicly opposed slavery and, despite being religious, advocated for separation of church and state. He was well education, which he used to write many essays and father the University of Virginia. While Thomas Jefferson seems like the typical founding father that we learn about in school, it turns out that there’s a lot fun facts we don’t hear about!

To begin, did you know that Thomas Jefferson was the only president to serve two terms and never veto bill? I found this to be interesting considering that he was so active in the formation of the United States. He’s one of the only presidents to not acknowledge his presidency on his tombstone. I also pictured Thomas Jefferson as an intellectual snob. Jefferson was not only an avid writer, he was very pro-education and formed the basis for the American education system. However, it turns out that Thomas Jefferson was actually really casual and spent his free time playing with his children, rather than reading. (He also fathered quite a bit of children and they didn’t necessarily come from the same mother, so we know what the means…)

Also, did you know that Thomas Jefferson loved vanilla ice cream? He tasted it in France and brought back a recipe for it, which is now displayed in the Library of Congress. He also was a wine connoisseur and during his eight years as president, he racked up a wine bill of $10,835.90, which today would total $146,524.90.