An important American poet, Williams wrote short stories, collected the knives of the times (1932) and lived along the Passaic River (1938). Williams is a devout, practical physician during most of his literary career, and his work demonstrates his respect and concern for his patients and their living conditions. Living in poverty, suffering, and means in the ordinary, poor people of his native New Jersey informed most of Williams's short novels, often characterized by conversation, were written in "American idioms," whose term was vernacular language's fundamental vision of shaping American experience. Tumbling in form and plot in architecture, his reality, and sometimes charts, stories often make vivid images juxtaposed from life to express their messages. Williams received an important warm reception on his short novel during his career. However, many scholars later believed that his stories greatly influenced the development of short story forms in American Literature in the 20th century.