Author of the week: W.S. Merwin

What will Merwin do with his tenure as the nation’s new poet laureate?

It will be interesting to watch what W.S. Merwin does with his one-year tenure as the nation’s new poet laureate, said Dwight Garner in The New York Times. A quiet man who cherishes solitude and lives on an Eden-like estate in Hawaii, the 82-year-old often seems “a soul too pure” to use his Library of Congress post to stir up controversy. But Merwin, who last year won a Pulitzer for The Shadow of Sirius, just might have some fight in him. He was once an outspoken opponent of the Vietnam War and he has always exhibited a deep ecological consciousness. With oil fouling the Gulf of Mexico and America fighting two wars overseas, this could be his moment.

Merwin so far seems more prepared to speak out about ecology than war, said Ed Lake in the Abu Dhabi National. While he “deeply deplores” any organized violence, he’s adamant that humankind’s greatest mistake is viewing the natural world as a resource to be exploited rather than as a gift larger than us all. In his poetry, Merwin strives for harmony of thought and expression. Yet he’s not used to being the object of public attention while working through his often complicated composition process. Every poem has an ideal shape, he says, but its shape only emerges through the process of creation. “When it sounds right, then it is right,” he says. “I tell students that poetry comes from listening, and they inevitably say, ‘Listening to what?’ And I say: ‘That’s what you have to find out.’”

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us