During his lifetime, anthologies he edited sold more than two million copies, a nearly unheard amount for books of poetry.

[1] "Shopping for Meat in Winter" is a typical Williams poem, with its urban theme, forced rhyme, and attempts at replicating the neo-Romanticism of the New Apocalypse.

The sun like incense fumes on the smoky glass, The street frets with people, the winter wind Throws knives, prices dangle from shoppers' mouths While the grim vegetables, on parade, bring to mind The great countryside bathed in golden sleep, The trees, the bees, the soft peace everywhere – I think of the cow's tail, how all summer long It beat the shapes of harps into the air.

Oscar Williams and his poet-artist wife Gene Derwood sponsored an annual $15,000 poetry award which bears their name.

[2] In his later years, Oscar Williams' home near Wall Street in Manhattan served as a mecca for young poets.