Week Two: More on Merwin

How do Merwin’s poems explore and test the notion of the poem as an expression of lived experience and memory?

                Reading Helen Vendler’s review after finishing The Shadow of Sirius was enlightening. It was clear while reading that Merwin’s lived experiences and memories were the subjects of the bulk of the volume. But just from reading these poems I never would have guessed at the man tragedies of Merwin’s life. I’m glad that I didn’t know the details of his life story before reading because it allowed me to see how relatable all of the poems are. Merwin uses very simple words and images in these poems—words and images that I think most people would call “familiar.” The way Merwin relates his own memories sparks memories of my own, though now, having read his brief biography I have to say in reality we’ve shared few experiences. Though written with specific language in response to a difficult life, the emotional response they provoke is vague enough to allow anyone to find a way to relate. And his difficult past makes both his wistful, sad poems more meaningful as well as the few very happy ones. “Day without a Name” stood out to me as absolutely joyful—a word that I don’t think I would use to describe many other poems in Sirius. Although Michael Davidson says that “it makes little sense to speak of poetry's ability to express the Self, capital S,” I think that Merwin does express his full Self through these poems. Does that mean each reader can “know” Merwin from these pages? Not fully, no. But I do think each reader can identify with and know a part of Merwin’s self from time spent in these pages.

It was also fascinating to hear about Merwin’s changing style. Since I haven’t read any of Merwin’s early work, I was unaware that his poems were once very different. The knowledge that Merwin was once full of poetic vinegar lends even more weight to the simplicity of these “worn words.” I thought Vendler expressed very eloquently the importance of Merwin’s lack of punctuation. I felt that she said what I wanted to say last week. It’s also interesting to compare his lifetime transformation to the progression I see in this book: it seems like the first two sections are more internal, while the third looks out into the world. The shift to nature, other poets, and animals seemed sharp to me, but not at all unwelcome.

I think that Merwin creates experiences through his poems that can be universally shared though they are based on his very specific lived experiences and memories. And I found it interesting that when Merwin’s poems become very specific he lets the reader know. The four poems in the third book written “to” people are titled with their names so that we, too, can know who inspired him—three poets: Ruth Stone, Basho, and Su Tung-p’o, and his wife, Paula. I think it would be difficult to discuss Merwin if we were to treat these poems as something other than an expression of lived experience and memory.