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Selected Translations book cover
Selected Translations
2013
First Published
4.44
Average Rating
407
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"Mr. Merwin is an undisputed master."—The New York Times "Merwin writes that the act of translation is 'plainly impossible and nevertheless indispensable.' We can be grateful that he feels compelled to master the impossible... And that gift alone is priceless."—The Wichita Eagle Selected Translations is the lifework from one of America's greatest poets and translators. Dedicated to the art of translation since his undergraduate years at Princeton, Poet Laureate W.S. Merwin achieved an unmatched oeuvre of translated poems from every corner of the earth, from dozens of languages. This massive achievement is an essential volume for every library, public and private. From "In Praise of Darkness": Translated from the Spanish of Jorge Luis Borges Old age (as others refer to it) can be the season of our good fortune. The animal has died, all but the dying. What remains is the man and his spirit. I live among vague luminous shapes that have not yet become darkness . . . W.S. Merwin was US Poet Laureate from 2010–2011. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry twice, most recently for The Shadow of Sirius (Copper Canyon Press, 2009), and the National Book Award for Migration: New and Selected Poems (Copper Canyon Press, 2005). Author and translator of over fifty books, Merwin lives in Hawaii and France.

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Author

W.S. Merwin
W.S. Merwin
Author · 44 books

William Stanley Merwin was an American poet, credited with over fifty books of poetry, translation and prose. William Stanley Merwin (September 30, 1927 – March 15, 2019) was an American poet who wrote more than fifty books of poetry and prose, and produced many works in translation.During the 1960s anti-war movement, Merwin's unique craft was thematically characterized by indirect, unpunctuated narration. In the 1980s and 1990s, his writing influence derived from an interest in Buddhist philosophy and deep ecology. Residing in a rural part of Maui, Hawaii, he wrote prolifically and was dedicated to the restoration of the island's rainforests. Merwin received many honors, including the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1971 and 2009; the National Book Award for Poetry in 2005,and the Tanning Prize—one of the highest honors bestowed by the Academy of American Poets—as well as the Golden Wreath of the Struga Poetry Evenings. In 2010, the Library of Congress named him the 17th United States Poet Laureate.

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