The centuries have changed little in this art, The subjects are still the same.--Kenneth Rexroth
Why poetry? What is poetry and why do people write it and read it? Why, as Dana Levin has written, "this urge to making a scrapbook of stars"?
Every poet, by accident or design, has responded to "Why poetry" by writing a poem about poetry (an ars poetica). Whether these poems focus on the personal, political, or philosophical, each recognizes that our world is more complicated than a direct statement.
As Marvin Bell has written, "Writing is all and everything." This...
The centuries have changed little in this art, The subjects are still the same.--Kenneth Rexroth
Merwin is one of the great poets of our age. Los Angeles Times Book Review
Merwin has become instantly recognizable on the page; he has made for himself that most difficult of all creations, an accomplished style. Helen Vendler, New York Review of Books
It is gratifying to read poetry that is this ambitious, that cares about vision and the possibilities of poetry, by a poet who is capable of so much change. The Nation
Essential means just that: A deeply considered selection from W.S. Merwin s vast oeuvre that represents the poemsand a few...
Merwin is one of the great poets of our age. Los Angeles Times Book Review
Merwin has become instantly recognizable on the page; he ...
