Synthesis Response

In 1954, at the age of 25 W.S Merwin received his first poetic honor from the Yale Younger Poets, accordingly and as a testament to the young man’s promising potential the publishing was only his first. Marked by his formal and classical style, Merwin’s early days were of both spectacular success and promising potential. As the rather destitute son of violent, grief-ridden family, Merwin was privileged with the presence of renowned mentors and strong academics alike; no doubt an influential upbringing. Over a five-decade career, Merwin has held the title of one of the most prolific poets of his time. Although he has written essays, plays, translations of French, Spanish, Latin, and Portuguese and even written television scripts, his poetry has transcended criticism and time alike. He has published over twenty volumes of poetry, in multiple languages. However W.S Merwin has and will not be judged by his lengthy resume of poetic praise, but rather celebrated as “testing the bounds and power of language through imagery driven by the quest for knowledge of the human condition”.

Merwins early days were marked by his rather formal and classical style. His poetry dealt a great deal with classical literature and mythology of mainly Western Europe (although he dabbled in Middle-Eastern additionally). Robert Graves heavily influenced his earliest works, a man he knew fairly well. Many of his poems featured animals and mythical allusions. However his early work and success soon gave way to a more mature and independent style. Eight years later, Merwin began to develop a more autobiographical way. He experimented with metrical irregularity and as a result his poems became less orderly and controlled. He played with the forms of indirect narration and developed on contemporary poetic trends.

More recently, Merwin has developed an extremely loose, free flowing style, almost Zen-like as some have come to describe. His latest poems are dense and imagistic, emulating his love of nature and pacifism. His poems have taken on a dream like quality; full of praise for the natural world. The rigidity and regimental style of old has given way to free flowing verse, employing unconventional stylistic measures. His affinity for nature and its beauty have become his influence, as he alludes to tropical rainforests often.

It is hard to conceal the trend of W.S Merwin’s poetic style. Much like the interests and influences of his private life, his poetry has evolved from the academic rigidity of his youth, to the Zen-like openness of his accomplished current state. Nonetheless Merwin has become one the most prolific poets of recent memory. He continues to write in his Hawaii pineapple plantation atop a dormant volcano on the coast of Maui.

  

The Poet's View

http:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QQ1aCS6Pbw

A nice short look into some of the enduring qualities and stylistic measures of W.S Merwin. The vid illustrates several core values of Merwin and how these principles are emulated in his poetry. The video also offers some insight into how to become a poet, which from the sound of it seems rather difficult.

Poetic Influences

Poetic Influences:

            W.S Merwin’s first book of poems, which earned him the Yale Younger Poets Prize series in 1952, is both a prime example of Merwin’s interests and influences. More symbolic of his early work, his first poems were heavily influenced by themes of mythology, classical and medieval. This aspect was in large respect due to Wallace Stevens and Robert Graves, both of which wrote extensively on the matter. Of the two men, Graves was the most significant in Merwin’s poetic career. The two first met when Merwin was hired for a private tutor of Grave’s son. Beyond introducing Merwin the top brass of the literary world, Grave’s was of great influence in Merwin’s professional career. Graves was well known for his work regarding mythology. Indeed something that would later prove significant Merwin’s publications.

Upon relinquishing his job with Grave’s, a volume of Merwin’s verse, The Mask of Janus, was accepted for publication. The poem was renowned for its strong infusion of traditional forms, and its wide-ranging allusion to classical literature and mythology, a testament to Grave’s influence.

The poemsI researched and now have come to present  one Merwin’s later works. The poem (See analysis below) is heavily influenced by classical literature (as it is such). But beyond acting as a testament to Merwins wide array of literary talents, the verse illustrates the strong connection with classical literature and mythology in Merwin’s literary career.  An influence conceived very much by Robert Graves.

Canto XXXI Dante’s Purgatorio (2000)

            The poem below is not an organic production of Merwin, but rather the product of his well versed talents in translation. As I noted above, the poem aptly applies to requirement D, because it is both classical work, and one of influential status.

Canto XXXI Dante’s Purgatorio

"O thou who art beyond the sacred river,"

Turning to me the point of her discourse,

That edgewise even had seemed to me so keen,

She recommenced, continuing without pause,
"Say, say if this be true; to such a charge,
Thy own confession needs must be conjoined."

My faculties were in so great confusion,
That the voice moved, but sooner was extinct
Than by its organs it was set at large.

Awhile she waited; then she said: "What thinkest?10
Answer me; for the mournful memories
In thee not yet are by the waters injured."

Confusion and dismay together mingled
Forced such a Yes! from out my mouth, that sight
Was needful to the understanding of it.

Even as a cross-bow breaks, when 'tis discharged
Too tensely drawn the bowstring and the bow,
And with less force the arrow hits the mark,

So I gave way beneath that heavy burden,
Outpouring in a torrent tears and sighs,20
And the voice flagged upon its passage forth.

Whence she to me: "In those desires of mine
Which led thee to the loving of that good,
Beyond which there is nothing to aspire to,

What trenches lying traverse or what chains
Didst thou discover, that of passing onward
Thou shouldst have thus despoiled thee of the hope?

And what allurements or what vantages
Upon the forehead of the others showed,
That thou shouldst turn thy footsteps unto them?"30

After the heaving of a bitter sigh,
Hardly had I the voice to make response,
And with fatigue my lips did fashion it.

Weeping I said: "The things that present were
With their false pleasure turned aside my steps,
Soon as your countenance concealed itself."

And she: "Shouldst thou be silent, or deny
What thou confessest, not less manifest
Would be thy fault, by such a Judge 'tis known.

But when from one's own cheeks comes bursting forth40
The accusal of the sin, in our tribunal
Against the edge the wheel doth turn itself.

But still, that thou mayst feel a greater shame
For thy transgression, and another time
Hearing the Sirens thou mayst be more strong,

Cast down the seed of weeping and attend;
So shalt thou hear, how in an opposite way
My buried flesh should have directed thee.

Never to thee presented art or nature
Pleasure so great as the fair limbs wherein50
I was enclosed, which scattered are in earth.

And if the highest pleasure thus did fail thee
By reason of my death, what mortal thing
Should then have drawn thee into its desire?

Thou oughtest verily at the first shaft
Of things fallacious to have risen up
To follow me, who was no longer such.

Thou oughtest not to have stooped thy pinions downward
To wait for further blows, or little girl,
Or other vanity of such brief use.60

The callow birdlet waits for two or three,
But to the eyes of those already fledged,
In vain the net is spread or shaft is shot."

Even as children silent in their shame
Stand listening with their eyes upon the ground,
And conscious of their fault, and penitent;

So was I standing; and she said: "If thou
In hearing sufferest pain, lift up thy beard
And thou shalt feel a greater pain in seeing."

With less resistance is a robust holm70
Uprooted, either by a native wind
Or else by that from regions of Iarbas,

Than I upraised at her command my chin;
And when she by the beard the face demanded,
Well I perceived the venom of her meaning.

And as my countenance was lifted up,
Mine eye perceived those creatures beautiful
Had rested from the strewing of the flowers;

And, still but little reassured, mine eyes
Saw Beatrice turned round towards the monster,80
That is one person only in two natures.

Beneath her veil, beyond the margent green,
She seemed to me far more her ancient self
To excel, than others here, when she was here.

So pricked me then the thorn of penitence,
That of all other things the one which turned me
Most to its love became the most my foe.

Such self-conviction stung me at the heart
O'erpowered I fell, and what I then became
She knoweth who had furnished me the cause.90

Then, when the heart restored my outward sense,
The lady I had found alone, above me
I saw, and she was saying, "Hold me, hold me."

Up to my throat she in the stream had drawn me,
And, dragging me behind her, she was moving
Upon the water lightly as a shuttle.

When I was near unto the blessed shore,
"Asperges me," I heard so sweetly sung,
Remember it I cannot, much less write it.

The beautiful lady opened wide her arms,100
Embraced my head, and plunged me underneath,
Where I was forced to swallow of the water.

Then forth she drew me, and all dripping brought
Into the dance of the four beautiful,
And each one with her arm did cover me.

'We here are Nymphs, and in the Heaven are stars;
Ere Beatrice descended to the world,
We as her handmaids were appointed her.

We'll lead thee to her eyes; but for the pleasant
Light that within them is, shall sharpen thine110
The three beyond, who more profoundly look.'

Thus singing they began; and afterwards
Unto the Griffin's breast they led me with them,
Where Beatrice was standing, turned towards us.

"See that thou dost not spare thine eyes," they said;
"Before the emeralds have we stationed thee,
Whence Love aforetime drew for thee his weapons."

A thousand longings, hotter than the flame,
Fastened mine eyes upon those eyes relucent,
That still upon the Griffin steadfast stayed.120

As in a glass the sun, not otherwise
Within them was the twofold monster shining,
Now with the one, now with the other nature.

Think, Reader, if within myself I marvelled,
When I beheld the thing itself stand still,
And in its image it transformed itself.

While with amazement filled and jubilant,
My soul was tasting of the food, that while
It satisfies us makes us hunger for it,

Themselves revealing of the highest rank130
In bearing, did the other three advance,
Singing to their angelic saraband.

"Turn, Beatrice, O turn thy holy eyes,"
Such was their song, "unto thy faithful one,
Who has to see thee ta'en so many steps.

In grace do us the grace that thou unveil
Thy face to him, so that he may discern
The second beauty which thou dost conceal."

O splendour of the living light eternal!
Who underneath the shadow of Parnassus140
Has grown so pale, or drunk so at its cistern,

He would not seem to have his mind encumbered
Striving to paint thee as thou didst appear,
Where the harmonious heaven o'ershadowed thee,

When in the open air thou didst unveil?

           

Canto XXXI of Dante’s Purgatorio is one the many verses of Dante’s Purgatorio. Apparently (I know little on the matter so I will do my best summarize) the basic premise is that it is the sequel to Dante’s Inferno.  It starts off just where Inferno began, in Hell.  Specifically, Canto XXXI is when

Beatrice concludes her harsh remark, and Dante is left incapable of speech. He is overcome by remorse, admits his guilty, and faints for shame. When he comes to his sense, he discovers that Matelda has drawn him into the stream, Lethe, immersing him completely so he drinks some of the waters. The she leads him on the other side, where he is accepted by dancing ladies. At this point he can stare at Beatrice in the eyes, where he sees the reflection of the griffin, and the mystical union between Dante and Beatrice takes place. * http://www.italianstudies.org/hui235/Purg-outline1.htm

Allegorically, the Purgatorio represents Christian life, in that Christian souls arrive escorted by an angel, apparently sining in exitu Israel de Aegypto. This installment is notable for its demonstration of the medieval ethos regarding spherical Earth. Purgatorio is the second installment of Dante’s work; it falls between Inferno and Paradiso.

           

1915 by Robert Graves

            More of an obscure connection to the influences of Merwin’s work, the devote aversion to conflict and imperialism, prevalent in both Merwin’s poems and private life, can be attributed to the early writings of Graves and his experience during WW1. Merwin is a pacifist by nature, and as such opposes anything contradictory to his values. As one of the more influential people in his life, Grave’s wrote extensively on his experiences during war, and no doubt some of these rubbed off on Merwin.

            The following poem bellow was written and conceived from Grave’s wartime deployments. On August 1914 Grave’s enlisted as a junior officer in the Royal Welch Fusiliers. He fought in the Battle of Loos and was injured in the Somme offensive in 1916. During his deployments he published his first collection of poetry, Over the Brazier. By the wars conclusion, and after being injured severely for a second time, Grave’s had written three volumes on the matter, a lot of which would later be published.

1915 by Robert Graves

I’ve watched the Seasons passing slow, so slow,

In the fields between La Bassée and Bethune;

Primroses and the first warm day of Spring,

Red poppy floods of June,

August, and yellowing Autumn, so

To Winter nights knee-deep in mud or snow,

And you’ve been everything.

Dear, you’ve been everything that I most lack

In these soul-deadening trenches—pictures, books,

Music, the quiet of an English wood,

Beautiful comrade-looks,

The narrow, bouldered mountain-track,

The broad, full-bosomed ocean, green and black,

And Peace, and all that’s good.

Yesterday by W.S Merwin

Yesterday by W. S. Merwin

My friend says I was not a good son

you understand

I say yes I understand

he says I did not go

to see my parents very often you know

and I say yes I know

even when I was living in the same city he says

maybe I would go there once

a month or maybe even less

I say oh yes

he says the last time I went to see my father

I say the last time I saw my father

he says the last time I saw my father

he was asking me about my life

how I was making out and he

went into the next room

to get something to give me

oh I say

feeling again the cold

of my father's hand the last time

he says and my father turned

in the doorway and saw me

look at my wristwatch and he

said you know I would like you to stay

and talk with me

oh yes I say

but if you are busy he said

I don't want you to feel that you

have to

just because I'm here

I say nothing

he says my father

said maybe

you have important work you are doing

or maybe you should be seeing

somebody I don't want to keep you

I look out the window

my friend is older than I am

he says and I told my father it was so

and I got up and left him then

you know

though there was nowhere I had to go

and nothing I had to do

Analysis:

The poems end leaves the reader with feeling of sadness, even desperation.  The son’s detailing of his fathers relationship is anything but optimistic. However, what is most distressing about the poem, is not the decayed relationship between a father and son, but rather the disregard to which son approaches his father. The son is acknowledging his failure to keep in touch, but does nothing about it. He knows that he could do better, maybe by going more “there once a month or maybe even less” but chooses to disregard his obligations as a son, and instead goes “nowhere” and does “nothing”.

There’s a degree of relevancy in this poem to all of our lives. We struggle to keep in touch and to hold together the fabric of our relationships, but sometimes and by our own actions, the struggle is futile. The fact that the son acknowledges his own doings and yet chooses to watch his relationship decay makes it all the more worse.

Merwin employs a multitude of literary devices in this poem; in order to both heighten its purpose and to its readability. For example, the use of ANAPHORA and the repetition of the line “I say”. The reasoning for the ANAPHORA may be to develop a sense of conversation. Merwin also uses APOSTRAPHE, CAESURA, ENJAMBMENT, and ENVOI. All of these devices contribute to the poems flow and style. The APOSTRAPHE and ENVOIV create the sense that a person is speaking to reader, while CAESURA and ENJAMBMENT contribute to the poems style and flow.

For the Anniversary of my Death by W.S Merwin

For The Anniversary Of My Death by W. S. Merwin

Every year without knowing it I have passed the day

When the last fires will wave to me

And the silence will set out

Tireless traveller

Like the beam of a lightless star

Then I will no longer

Find myself in life as in a strange garment

Surprised at the earth

And the love of one woman

And the shamelessness of men

As today writing after three days of rain

Hearing the wren sing and the falling cease

And bowing not knowing to what

Analysis:

            “Every year without knowing it I have passed the day/ when the last fires will wave to me”.

The opening line offers the reader a gloomy and pessimistic tone, reinforcing the dismal title. The first line is a concept that Merwin is envisioning his own death, and the “fires” the “will have to me” might be a METAPHOR for people waving good-bye to him. The term fire might also be a reference to hell [TROP].

The unique quality of the poem is that enough information isn’t provided to draw a conclusion about where, when and how he died. Merwin offers the readers his analysis of his death instead. From this point, we can see that Merwins view of death is dreary at best because to him it means a sense of emptiness.

There is a shift from the first to second stanza. In the first Merwin is talking as if he is alive, then the poem shifts. The second stanza refers to “then”, simply put when he’s no longer living.

The concept of eternity plays heavily in poem. In line 5, “Like a beam of a lightless star” symbolizes  [Allusion] eternity. In addition, Merwin portends to his opinion of death, in a rather strangely embracing way.

Merwin is unique in writing this poem because instead of pondering death he offers his intuition about death. In the concluding lines he solidifies the uncertainties of death with the statement “And bowing not knowing to what”.

When You Go Away by W.S Merwin

When You Go Away by W. S. Merwin

When you go away the wind clicks around to the north

The painters work all day but at sundown the paint falls

Showing the black walls

The clock goes back to striking the same hour

That has no place in the years

And at night wrapped in the bed of ashes

In one breath I wake

It is the time when the beards of the dead get their growth

I remember that I am falling

That I am the reason

And that my words are the garment of what I shall never be

Like the tucked sleeve of a one-armed boy

Analysis:

            In the poem “When You Go Away”, dark tone and a multitude of literary devices heighten Merwin’s persistent obsession with death. The overall tone of the poem is dark and sinister. From the poems opening lines we, the readers get the sense of eminence, almost as is something significant will occur. However this is short lived, the poem finishes in a still dark and dreary fashion but offers little in the way of climax. 

Unknown Bird by W.S Merwin

Unknown Bird by W. S. Merwin

Out of the dry days

through the dusty leaves

far across the valley

those few notes never

heard here before

one fluted phrase

floating over its

wandering secret

all at once wells up

somewhere else

and is gone before it

goes on fallen into

its own echo leaving

a hollow through the air

that is dry as before

where is it from

hardly anyone

seems to have noticed it

so far but who now

would have been listening

it is not native here

that may be the one

thing we are sure of

it came from somewhere

else perhaps alone

so keeps on calling for

no one who is here

hoping to be heard

by another of its own

unlikely origin

trying once more the same few

notes that began the song

of an oriole last heard

years ago in another

existence there

it goes again tell

no one it is here

foreign as we are

who are filling the days

with a sound of our own

Analysis:

            Arguably, Merwin is attempting to state that we all are like an unknown, or in the case of the poem an unknown bird. Through this Merwin is exerting the point that we are all trying to fit in even though we may be foreign to others. To play on the use of birds, we all have a song to sing and molding that song to conformities of larger groups is difficult of inevitably going to happen. The short phrasing and lack of punctuation [Caesura, Enjambment] contributes to the poems stylistic flow. 

To Myself by W.S Merwin

To Myself by W.S Merwin

Even when I forget you
I go on looking for you
I believe I would know you
I keep remembering you
sometimes long ago but then
other times I am sure you
were here for a moment before
and the air is still alive
around where you were and I
think then I can recognize
you who are always the same
who pretend to be time but
you are not time and who speak
in the words but you are not
what they say you who are not
lost when I do not find you

Analysis:

            Again we see a Merwin poem nostalgic in form with an overtly mundane tone. The poem may be alluding to former love or to companion, lost in the ages of time. In any case, the relationship has left an impact on Merwin’s life, “Even when I forget you I go on looking for you” gives meaning to this assumption. The author is obviously conflicted with this relationship, stating that he “believes” or thinks he knew “you” but can’t remember the place or time. The poem then shifts to a sudden criticism of the “you”. He states that the person in question is not what she/he pretends to be- “You pretend to be time but you are not time”.

            Merwin employs the usage of ENJAMBMENT in order to add to the poems fluidity and purpose.    

Before the Flood by W.S Merwin

BEFORE THE FLOOD by W.S Merwin

Why did he promise me
that we would build ourselves
an ark all by ourselves
out in back of the house
on New York Avenue
in Union City New Jersey
to the singing of the streetcars
after the story
of Noah whom nobody
believed about the waters
that would rise over everything
when I told my father
I wanted us to build
an ark of our own there
in the back yard under
the kitchen could we do that
he told me that we could
I want to I said and will we
he promised me that we would
why did he promise that
I wanted us to start then
nobody will believe us
I said that we are building
an ark because the rains
are coming and that was true
nobody ever believed
we would build an ark there
nobody would believe
that the waters were coming

Analysis:

            The interesting thing about the poem is that it reads as if the entire thing is broken up without acknowledging any pauses or grammatical necessities. The entire poem flows but in general is choppy and lacks fluidity [ENJAMBMENT]. The conversational element of poem adds to its readability but does little to bridge this divide.

The poem is read form the point of view of a child. The child is speaking to himself and consistently asking “why”. There is a confliction between the child’s innocence and the reality of building an arch. He struggles to find the median between reality and hope. He also parallels his struggle to Noah of Noah’s Arc by stating “nobody believes me” just as in the case of Noah. However and oddly enough, in the story of Noah’s Arc, Noah was correct when he portends of a flood. Maybe this fact will come true in the boy’s poem, maybe not, but it leaves the reader with the ominous sense of eminence.

Some Last Questions by W.S Merwin

Some Last Questions by W.S Merwin

What is the head
     A. Ash
What are the eyes
     A. The wells have fallen in and have
        Inhabitants
What are the feet
     A. Thumbs left after the auction
No what are the feet
     A. Under them the impossible road is moving
        Down which the broken necked mice push
        Balls of blood with their noses
What is the tongue
     A. The black coat that fell off the wall
        With sleeves trying to say something
What are the hands
     A. Paid
No what are the hands
     A. Climbing back down the museum wall
        To their ancestors the extinct shrews that will
        Have left a message
What is the silence
     A. As though it had a right to move
Who are the compatriots
     A. They make the stars of bone

Analysis:

            I chose to analyze this poem simply out of curiosity. The format and flow are unique from any other of his poems and the fragmented style and language leave much to interpretation. Each line poses a new question and the subsequent line answers it. However some lines reiterate the question from above, and then that question is answered differently. I’m not quite sure the exact meaning of his poem, both in a broad picture and with the individual line. I noticed that Merwin consistently refers to body parts “What are the feet”, “What is the tongue”, “What are the hands”, however the answers do little to respond in a literal sense. Instead the answers are abstract and seem to be referring to an outside occurrence, only Merwin understands.

            Poem utilizes several literary devices, all of which contribute to the poems unique qualities. Merwin uses ANAPHORA in the sense that he continuously repeats his questions. He uses ENVOI to develop the conversational style of the poem.  

Separation by W.S Merwin

Separation by W.S Merwin     

Your absence has gone through me

Like thread through a needle.

Everything I do is stitched with its color.

Analysis:

This is one of those poems in which leaves us with endless questions and presumptions abound. 

The short, fluid style again leaves much to interpretation and individual analysis.

The poem clearly is about ones love. 

The first line tells the reader that the special someone is “absent”, but the following words elude to the fact this love has either left a lasting impression on him, or he has gotten over it.

“Like a thread through a needle” might signify the symbiotic relation the couple engaged in. It also may represent their intertwined lives, emotions and love. Finally the last the line gives the reader a sense that this love truly did have a lasting effect on Merwin. “Everything I do is stitched with its color” may literally mean that everything he does has been effected in someway by this love.

The poem is too short to have plethora of literary devices, but Merwin does employ the use of METPAHOR and ALLUSION, as non- discriminate as it may be.

Timeline

Source: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/aug/29/entertainment/la-ca-merwin-sidebar-20100829

A W.S. Merwin timeline

1927: William Stanley Merwin is born in New York City. He spends his childhood in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The son of a Presbyterian minister, Merwin starts writing church hymns for his father at the age of 5.

1944: Merwin enters Princeton University and studies with critic R.P. Blackmur (whose teaching assistant was John Berryman) and is a classmate of Galway Kinnell's. After graduation, Merwin moves to Majorca and tutors Robert Graves' son; eventually he settles in London, meeting T.S. Eliot and writing for the BBC.

1952: At 24, Merwin publishes his first book of verse, "A Mask for Janus," as part of the Yale Younger Poets series edited by W.H. Auden.

1971: "The Carrier of Ladders" receives a Pulitzer Prize. Merwin denounces the Vietnam War in his Pulitzer acceptance speech and donates the money to an antiwar group.

1976: Merwin moves to Hawaii to study with Zen master Robert Aitken. Subsequent volumes of verse include "The Compass Flower" (1977) and "The Rain in the Trees" (1988).

2005: "Migration: New and Selected Poems" wins the National Book Award.

2009: At 81, Merwin receives a second Pulitzer Prize for "The Shadow of Sirius."

The Life of W.S Merwin

In a career spanning five decades, W.S. Merwin, poet, translator, and environmental activist, has become one of the most widely read — and imitated — poets in America. The son of a Presbyterian minister, for whom he began writing hymns at the age of five, Merwin went to Europe as a young man and developed a love of languages that led to work as a literary translator. Over the years, his poetic voice has moved from the more formal and medieval—influenced somewhat by Robert Graves and the medieval poetry he was then translating — to a more distinctly American voice, following his two years in Boston where he got to know Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes, Adrienne Rich, and Donald Hall, all of whom were breaking out of the rhetoric of the 1950s. W.S. Merwin’s recent poetry is perhaps his most personal, arising from his deeply held beliefs. He is not only profoundly anti-imperialist, pacifist, and environmentalist, but also possessed by an intimate feeling for landscape and language and the ways in which land and language interflow. His latest poems are densely imagistic and full of an intimate awareness of the natural world.                                                                                                   His first book, A Mask for Janus, was chosen by W.H. Auden in 1952 for the Yale Younger Poets series. His book of poems The Carrier of Ladders was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1970. His other books of poems include The Drunk in the Furnace, The Moving Target, The Lice, Flower & Hand, The Compass Flower, Feathers from the Hill, Opening the Hand, The Rain in the Trees, Travels, The Vixen, The Lost Upland, Unframed Originals, The Folding Cliffs, The River Sound, The Pupil, a translation of Dante’s Purgatorio and his critically-lauded translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Recent reissues of his books include The First Four Books of Poems, Spanish Ballads (Copper Canyon Press), his translations of Jean Follain’s poems Transparence of the World, and Antonio Porchia’s Voices, as well as The Book of Fables (Copper Canyon), a reissue of two previously published books The Miner’s Pale Children and Houses & Travelers. His most recent poetry collections include Present Company (Copper Canyon), which won the Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry, Migration: Selected Poems 1951-2001 (Copper Canyon), which won the National Book Award, and The Shadow of Sirius (Copper Canyon), which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize (his second Pulitzer).                                                                                                                        In 1999, W.S. Merwin was named Poetry Consultant to the Library of Congress for a jointly-held position along with poets Rita Dove and Louise Glück. He has been honored as laureate of the Struga Poetry Evenings Festival in Macedonia, receiving the international poetry award, the Golden Wreath Award. In the fall of 2004, Merwin received the 2004 Lannan Lifetime Achievement Award. Included in his numerous awards are the Pulitzer Prize (twice), the National Book Award, the Tanning Prize, the Bollingen Prize, and the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. In July 2010, William Merwin was appointed United States Poet Laureate by the Librarian of Congress. He lives, writes, and gardens in Hawaii, on the island of Maui.  He has spent the last 30 years planting 19 acres with over 800 species of palm, creating a sustainable forest – the property has recently been turned into a conservancy, the Merwin Conservancy.

Source: http://www.barclayagency.com/merwin.html