The Biography of William Stanley Merwin

By Lanie Mason

W.S. Merwin- a Poet of Today’s Society

 William Stanley Merwin has created a style of his own and become famous for it. W. S. Merwin’s later poems are an exploration of “hazy and animate forms” (Peter Davison). He didn’t always write obscure poems. Merwin’s early poetry was very formal, with a “medieval overtone” (Peter Davison). After about two years, W. S. Merwin turned to American themes, loosening up. Then he turned to the hazy form that made him famous, and Merwin abandoned punctuation. Merwin’s latest type of poetry is densely imagistic, dream-like and full of praise for the natural world. Other than this, Merwin has remained “stylistically diverse” (Galenet Encyclopedia). Merwin’s style is not stiff, but a free, unconstricted style.

A Mask for Janus (poetry) 1952

The Dancing Bears (poetry) 1954

Darkling Child [with Dido Milroy] (drama) 1956

Green with Beasts (poetry) 1956

Favor Island (drama) 1957

The Drunk in the Furnace (poetry) 1960

The Gilded West (drama) 1961

The Moving Target (poetry) 1963

The Lice (poetry) 1967

Selected Translations, 19481968 (translations) 1968

The Carrier of Ladders (poetry) 1970

The Miner's Pale Children (short stories) 1970

Writings to an Unfinished Accompaniment (poetry) 1973

The Compass Flower (poetry) 1977

Houses and Travellers (short stories) 1977

Feathers from a Hill (poetry) 1978

Selected Translations, 1968-1978 (translations) 1979

Finding the Islands (poetry) 1982

Unframed Originals: Recollections (autobiographical sketches) 1982

Opening the Hand (poetry) 1983

The Rain in the Trees (poetry) 1988

Selected Poems (poetry) 1988

Travels (poetry) 1993

He writes on a variety of subjects and in a variety of tones. Several subjects that come up often are myth, the human mind and memory, fables, spiritual, the natural world, and the faults of contemporary society. Merwin commonly writes about “humanity’s irresponsible” (Galenet Encyclopedia), faulty relationship and “lack of appreciation for and care of the environment” (Encyclopedia of American literature) and entire natural world. He writes on mankind’s lack of restraint, “abuse of power, and false ideas of its own importance” (Galenet Encyclopedia). He rarely writes of hope for this society, but sometimes will celebrate the common bonds of humanity. As Eric Hartley once said, “it is no longer a matter of us-and-them, but only of us.” (Galenet Encyclopedia) Merwin’s tone often connects to his subject, a tone of an overwhelming sense of loss, or bitter disappointment. His writing creates a despairing view of humankind. Yet not all of Merwin’s poetry possesses a bitter and cynical view of mankind. Merwin’s later books of poetry show a major influence from classical Chinese poetry. They are a simple display of the beauty of life, love and nature. He clearly honors the world. As Judith Kitchen said, “Merwin…writes not to alter the world but to honor it.” (Galenet Encyclopedia)

            Merwin probably honors the world because of his childhood. His father was a Presbyterian minister. His faith more than likely taught him to respect the world. His father’s career also started Merwin writing. As Merwin once said, “I started writing hymns for my father as soon as I could write at all.” (Jay Parini). Born in New York City, his family moved to New Jersey. Merwin grew up looking out over the Hudson to the towers of New York. The Merwin family later moved to Scranton, PA. Merwin attended Princeton University, where he got a post-grad in romance languages. Shortly after, Merwin hit Europe, traveling to France, Spain, and England. There he translated Latin, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. On his travels, W. S. Merwin met poet Robert Graves, and tutored Robert Graves’s son. Most of his early writing was done in Europe, before Merwin turned to his roots and started writing with American themes. William Stanley Merwin currently lives and works in Hawaii.

            Merwin has won several awards, including the 1971 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. He has also won a Ford Foundation Grant (1964), National Endowment for the Arts Grant (1968), P.E.N. Translation Prize (1969), Guggenheim Fellowship (1973), Tanning Poetry Prize for Career Achievement (1994), and the Lenore Marshall/Nation Poetry Prize (1993). That’s just naming a few. The list goes on and on. Merwin has just started a five-year term as judge of the Yale Series of Younger Poets. Merwin, in his love of nature also keeps a garden of endangered plants. Through his work in the past and present, Merwin has captured the hearts of many people.