American poet whose early work is characterized by short lines and an acid tone, but who later altered both the form and content of his poetry.

Educated at Bucknell University (Lewisburg, Pa.) and the University of Pennsylvania (B.A., 1959), Williams was a contributing editor for American Poetry Review from 1972. His first collection of verse, Lies (1969), contains lyrical yet vituperative poems railing against human callousness and dishonesty. I Am the Bitter Name (1972), an overtly political collection, inveighs against the American military-industrial complex and the complacency of governments. A stylistic and thematic departure is evident in With Ignorance (1977); it is an exploration of the American psyche rather than a diatribe, and its long-lined, conversational poems have a dramatic and investigative quality. His later works include Tar (1983), Flesh and Blood (1987), A Dream of Mind (1992), and The Vigil (1997).