He also examined the role of the poet in American society and famously summarized his poetic method in the phrase "No ideas but in things" (found in his poem "A Sort of a Song" and repeated again and again in Paterson).
Vyskúšal si aj úlohu básnika v americkej spoločnosti a skvelo sumarizoval svoju poetickú metódu frázou „No ideas but in things“ (nachádzame v básni „A Sort of a Song“ a opakovanú stále v Patersone.).