William Stanley Merwin was born in New York in 1927. Growing up the son of a Presbyterian minister, Merwin stepped into the world of poetry by writing hymns for his father. After graduating from Princeton in 1948, he traveled to Europe where he worked as a tutor and translator in France, Spain, and England. Many of his experiences during these couple of years are recorded in his book Summer Doorways. Eventually Merwin settled in Majorca as the tutor to Robert Graves's son. Merwin could not help fall under the influence of Graves, with elements of the mythological and the legendary marking much of his early poetry. Merwin moved back to the United States in 1951, and W. H. Auden selected Merwin's first book of poems as the winner of the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award in 1952. By the 60s, Merwin began incorporating metrical irregularity into his poems, which reflected his personal life much more than his earlier works. After moving to Hawaii in the 70s, Merwin's poems came to demonstrate his intense appreciation for nature, depicting the natural world in an almost Zen-like state. In addition to his revered poetry, Merwin has produced an awe-inspiring collection of translations--from classic pieces such as Dante's Purgatorio to the medieval French Song of Roland to the 20th century Russian writer Osip Mandelstam. Collaborating with other translators and poets, Merwin has also successfully translated works from Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Persian, Urdu, and Sanskrit.
• A Mask for Janus (1952)
• The Dancing Bears (1954)
• Green With Beasts (1956)
• Darkling Child (1956)
• Favor Island (1957)
• The Drunk in the Furnace (1960)
• The Gilded West (1961)
• Moving Target (1963)
• Lice: Poems (1963)
• The Carrier of Ladders: Poems (1970)
• The Miner's Pale Children (1970)
• Writings to an Unfinished Accompaniment (1973)
• The First Four Books of Poems (1975)
• Compass Flower: Poems (1977)
• Houses and Travellers (1977)
• Unframed Originals (1982)
• Finding the Islands (1982)
• Opening the Hand (1983)
• Regions of Memory: Uncollected Prose 1949-82 (1987)
• Rain in the Trees (1988)
• Selected Poems (1988)
• A Moveable Feast (1991)
• The Lost Upland: Stories of Southwest France (1992)
• The Second Four Books of Poems (1993)
• Travels (1994)
• The Real World of Manuel Cordoba (1995)
• Lament for the Makers: A Memorial Anthology (1995)
• The Vixen: Poems (1996)
• Flower & Hand: Poems 1977-83 (1997)
• The Folding Cliffs: A Narrative (1998)
• The River Sound: Poems (1999)
• The Pupil: Poems (2001)
• The Mays of Ventadorn (2002)
• The Ends of the Earth: Essays (2004)
• Migration: New and Selected Poems (2005)
• Present Company (2005)
• Summer Doorways: A Memoir (2005)
Translations by Merwin
• Selected Translations: 1948-68 (1968)
• Selected Poems of Osip Mandelstam (1974)
• Selected Translations: 1968-78 (1979)
• Selected Poetry of Vicente Huidobro (1981)
• Poem of the Cid (1983)
• Four French Plays (1985)
• From the Spanish Morning: Translations of Spanish Ballads
(1985)
• The Sun at Midnight (1989)
• Euripides: Iphigeneia at Aulis (1992)
• Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair (1993)
• Blood Wedding and Yerma (1994)
• Pieces of Shadow: Selected Poems of Jamie Sabine (1996)
• East Window: The Asian Translations (1998)
• Medieval Epics (1998)
• Purgatorio: A New Verse Translation (2000)
• Song of Roland (2001)
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A New Verse Translation
(2002)
• Transparence of the World (2003)
• Voices (2003)
• Selected Poems of Federico Garcia Lorca (2005)
• The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes: His Fortunes and Adversaries
For more information, please visit the Sun Valley Writers' Conference web site at www.svwc.com.
CONGRATULATIONS
W.S. Merwin
Winner of the 2005
National Book Award
for Poetry
Migration: New and Selected Poems
Check out these SIGNED First Editions of his first three books:
A Mask for Janus
Yale University, 1952.
A clean, bright copy of Merwin's First book. The dust jacket shows some sun discoloration along the top edge and down the spine. A beautiful specimen of an extremely rare book.
Signed by Merwin.
$850.00
The Dancing Bears
Yale University, 1954.
A wonderful First Edition/Printing copy of Merwin's "The Dancing Bears." Some fading to the spine. Book clean and tight. Inscribed by Merwin.
$350.00
Green With Beasts
Rupert Hart-Davies, 1956
A beautiful copy of the first British publication of Merwin's "Green With Beasts." Some soiling to DJ and spine is faded. Has yellow "Poetry Book Society Choice" band as issued. Book is very clean and tight. Signed by Merwin.
$250.00
and...
The Real World of Manuel Cordoba
Ninja Press, 1995
Beautiful fine press accordion book, which extends to 13' in length.. Signed by Merwin, and limited to 160 copies. $550.00
Limited Edition
Voices
by Antonio Porchia
translated by Merwin
Embers Handpress, 1978; Copy #22 of 226; signed on front fly by Merwin; beautiful edition. $150.00
