Roger Williams

Roger Williams Thirty-Two Poems

Roger Williams (c. 1603-1683) is known as the founder of Rhode Island as a refuge for those who were seeking religious tolerance and for his advocacy of the land rights of Native Americans. This volume is the first to print the thirty-two poems that were included within the text of his Key into the Language of America (1643) as a collection of poetry eminently worthy of reading and study in itself. In his critical Introduction, poet and American Literature scholar George Monteiro makes the case for Williams as America's first poet in English.