Introduction

Biography

Williams at­tend­ed the Uni­ver­si­ty of Cam­bridge, and emi­grat­ed to Am­er­ica in 1630.

Due to dis­a­gree­ments with the lo­cal au­thor­i­ties, he fled to Rhode Is­land in 1636.

In 1644, he ob­tained a char­ter for the Pro­vi­dence Plan­ta­tions, to which per­se­cut­ed Jews, Quak­ers, and oth­er mi­nor­i­ties flocked.

Works

Though not known as a hymn writ­er, Will­iams in­clud­ed a num­ber of mor­al­is­tic po­ems in his st­udy of the Nar­ra­gan­sett In­di­an lang­uage (A Key in­to the Lan­guage of Am­er­ica, 1643).