Williams was born September 17, 1883 in Rutherford, New Jersey, and educated at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Leipzig.

Williams's early verse included Poems (1909) and The Tempers (1913).

His prose works include a widely read collection of essays on American history

In 1950 Williams received the National Book Award for poetry

. He died March 4, 1963, in Rutherford and was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for his collection of verse Pictures from Brueghel and Other Poems (1962).