Winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. Mysteries of light, darkness, temporality, and eternity interweave throughout W.S. Merwin’s celebrated collection of poems, The Shadow of Sirius. “I have only what I remember,” Merwin admits, and his memories are focused and profound—Pennsylvania miners and neighborhood streetcars, a conversation with a boyhood teacher or deceased parent, the distinct qualities of autumnal light and gentle rain, well-cultivated loves, and “our long evenings and astonishment.” From the universe’s contradictions, Merwin once again calls upon the unexpected to illuminate existence.
ISBN: 9781556593109
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781556592843
Format: Hardcover
To Paula in Late Spring
Reviews
“I’ve drawn inspiration from Merwin’s writing because it teaches us about ourselves, our world, and how we as humans connect to nature.” —Barack Obama
“A collection of luminous, often tender poems that focus on the profound power of memory.” —Judges’ citation, Pulitzer Prize
“Merwin’s best book in a decade—and one of the best outright… fresh and awake with a simplicity that can only be called wisdom.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“In his personal anonymity, his strict individuated manner, his defense of the earth, and his heartache at time’s passing, Merwin has become instantly recognizable on the page.” —Helen Vendler, New York Review of Books
“[Merwin’s] long lines are rarely end-stopped, so that from the starting gate of one capital letter the language runs away with no visible bridle, interrupted only by the spaces between words and ordered only by syntax. Read aloud, Merwin’s phrases are so natural and clear that one wonders why he hasn’t gotten rid of the spaces too, and printed his poems in a solid block of undifferentiated text, like an ancient manuscript.” —Commonwealth
“The Shadow of Sirius contains many poems that are deeply imagined, strongly crafted, and filled with wisdom and feeling.”—Georgia Review
“It’s Merwin’s ability to turn the mundane into the magical that makes him a special poet. He asks us to look again and listen again to the world around us.” —Jonathon Bastian, Time Out Literary Critic
“… this quintessential Merwin conveys existence with unabashed praise and revelation… Sirius is known as the brightest star in the sky, and as the title suggests, such raging brightness casts a deep shadow. Merwin’s poems are just that—the veil behind a luminous burning.” —Hollins Critic
Awards
Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, 2009