Eric Stoll - A Continuous Harmony # 2

In the chapter of A Continuous Harmony titled "A homage to Dr. Williams", Wendell Berry makes a statement that sticks out to me. In this statement, Berry is referring to the poet William Carlos Williams, who he claims that he "knew, more than white Americans have ever known, that a man has not meaningfully arrived in his place in body until he has arrived in spirit as well." I found this statement to be significant to me as it is something I can easily relate to. I feel as if I have always had a tumultuous relationship with Virginia, the place I have grown up in and continue to live in. For years I have always promised myself that I would leave the state at the first opportunity, eventually settling in a place that better suits me, whether it by somewhere like New York or over on the west coast. Berry's opinion towards William Carlos Williams forces me to contemplate my own viewpoints on the place I live. I have seemingly determined that the grass is greener on the other side and that I would be much happier somewhere else, yet I feel that if I am not happy with who, not where I am, I wont be able to find true happiness anywhere. In the end, I want to achieve what Berry states that Williams' poetry did to him, which was to "satisfy me of the possibility of life wherever I have lived."