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Collected Poems 1996–2011
“In his personal anonymity, his strict individuated manner, his defense of the earth, and his heartache at time’s passing,” writes the critic Helen Vendler, W. S. Merwin “has made for himself that most difficult of creations, an accomplished style.” This second and final volume of the Library of America’s edition of Merwin’s collected poems begins in the mid-1990s, with the publication of two of his most ambitious books: The Vixen (1996) and The Folding Cliffs: A Narrative (1998). These projects have deep formal and thematic affinities: each is composed of long lines evocative of Greek and Latin elegies, and each is a sustained meditation on the history and spirit of a place that Merwin has come to know intimately.
Many of the poems in The Vixen are set in the Quercy region of southwestern France, where Merwin has lived intermittently since buying a farmhouse there in 1954; personal recollections of the house, his neighbors, and the rural landscape are joined by poems about historical figures, such as the poets Peire Vidal and François de Maynard. Merwin’s long residence in Hawaii led him to research and write The Folding Cliffs, a sweeping narrative of Hawaii’s past whose story centers on a nineteenth-century family resisting forced removal to a leprosy colony. For this edition Merwin has contributed a new prefatory note, “How I Came to Write The Folding Cliffs,” and the poem’s many allusions to Hawaiian history and culture are fully annotated for the first time.
The four collections published after The Folding Cliffs—The River Sound (1999), The Pupil (2001), Present Company (2005), and The Shadow of Sirius (2008)—foreground Merwin’s characteristic sensitivity and responsiveness to the natural world, his spiritual insights, and his facility with unadorned, elemental language. Many of his later poems are expansively retrospective, such as the long autobiographical poem “Testimony,” inspired by François Villon’s Le Grand Testament, and “Lament for the Makers,” an extended act of homage to Merwin’s poetic influences and friendships.
Collected Poems 1996–2011 concludes with a selection of previously uncollected poems chosen by editor J. D. McClatchy in consultation with the author, including “Tide Line Garden,” dedicated to Stanley Kunitz, and the haiku-like “By the Front Door”: “Rain through the morning / and in the long pool an old toad singing / happiness old as water”.
Many of the poems in The Vixen are set in the Quercy region of southwestern France, where Merwin has lived intermittently since buying a farmhouse there in 1954; personal recollections of the house, his neighbors, and the rural landscape are joined by poems about historical figures, such as the poets Peire Vidal and François de Maynard. Merwin’s long residence in Hawaii led him to research and write The Folding Cliffs, a sweeping narrative of Hawaii’s past whose story centers on a nineteenth-century family resisting forced removal to a leprosy colony. For this edition Merwin has contributed a new prefatory note, “How I Came to Write The Folding Cliffs,” and the poem’s many allusions to Hawaiian history and culture are fully annotated for the first time.
The four collections published after The Folding Cliffs—The River Sound (1999), The Pupil (2001), Present Company (2005), and The Shadow of Sirius (2008)—foreground Merwin’s characteristic sensitivity and responsiveness to the natural world, his spiritual insights, and his facility with unadorned, elemental language. Many of his later poems are expansively retrospective, such as the long autobiographical poem “Testimony,” inspired by François Villon’s Le Grand Testament, and “Lament for the Makers,” an extended act of homage to Merwin’s poetic influences and friendships.
Collected Poems 1996–2011 concludes with a selection of previously uncollected poems chosen by editor J. D. McClatchy in consultation with the author, including “Tide Line Garden,” dedicated to Stanley Kunitz, and the haiku-like “By the Front Door”: “Rain through the morning / and in the long pool an old toad singing / happiness old as water”.
- GenresPoetry
679 pages, Hardcover
First published April 4, 2013
3 people are currently reading
43 people want to read
About the author
W.S. Merwin
193 books347 followersWilliam Stanley Merwin was an American poet, credited with over fifty books of poetry, translation and prose.
William Stanley Merwin (September 30, 1927 – March 15, 2019) was an American poet who wrote more than fifty books of poetry and prose, and produced many works in translation. During the 1960s anti-war movement, Merwin's unique craft was thematically characterized by indirect, unpunctuated narration. In the 1980s and 1990s, his writing influence derived from an interest in Buddhist philosophy and deep ecology. Residing in a rural part of Maui, Hawaii, he wrote prolifically and was dedicated to the restoration of the island's rainforests.
Merwin received many honors, including the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1971 and 2009; the National Book Award for Poetry in 2005, and the Tanning Prize—one of the highest honors bestowed by the Academy of American Poets—as well as the Golden Wreath of the Struga Poetry Evenings. In 2010, the Library of Congress named him the 17th United States Poet Laureate.
William Stanley Merwin (September 30, 1927 – March 15, 2019) was an American poet who wrote more than fifty books of poetry and prose, and produced many works in translation. During the 1960s anti-war movement, Merwin's unique craft was thematically characterized by indirect, unpunctuated narration. In the 1980s and 1990s, his writing influence derived from an interest in Buddhist philosophy and deep ecology. Residing in a rural part of Maui, Hawaii, he wrote prolifically and was dedicated to the restoration of the island's rainforests.
Merwin received many honors, including the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1971 and 2009; the National Book Award for Poetry in 2005, and the Tanning Prize—one of the highest honors bestowed by the Academy of American Poets—as well as the Golden Wreath of the Struga Poetry Evenings. In 2010, the Library of Congress named him the 17th United States Poet Laureate.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 3, 2024
Had a hard time figuring out how to rate this. I rank some of this poetry as absolutely masterful, but I have reviewed each of the included books on their own, so this review is only for this collected edition and I have a HUGE problem with the edition as it stands. It just tries to pack in too much.
I think LoA should have done a three volume set of Merwin instead of a two volume set because there are sections of this book where the font size is painfully small and it becomes really hard to read. They reduce The Folding Cliffs, one of Merwin's best books, from over 350 pages to just over 200! It's almost unreadable! Such an unpleasant reading experience. Definitely read The Folding Cliffs and The Shadow of Sirius. But not in this edition.
I think LoA should have done a three volume set of Merwin instead of a two volume set because there are sections of this book where the font size is painfully small and it becomes really hard to read. They reduce The Folding Cliffs, one of Merwin's best books, from over 350 pages to just over 200! It's almost unreadable! Such an unpleasant reading experience. Definitely read The Folding Cliffs and The Shadow of Sirius. But not in this edition.
Want to read
May 11, 2013Asking for this for graduation! Merwin is everything.
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July 26, 2013811.54 M576co 2013 v.2
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews