Customer Reviews

East Window: Poems from Asia

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Not only is W.S. Merwin one of our finest living poets, he also has provided us with the daunting task of translating the poems of Asian writers, making them not only available but emotionally and artistically relevant. No easy job this, but Merwin has taken on the challenge of gathering disparate works from Sanskrit, Persian, Urdu, Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese into an immensely readable volume.

Merwin curated this collection well. Not only do we have the opportunity to re-read works by 13th century Rumi, but we also gain access to poets such as Li Po and Tu Fu. The translations reflect the countries of origin and in Merwin's hands the result is a collection of poems that maintain the spare dignity of the originals. Example, a Rumi poem follows:

The moon which the sky never saw
even in dreams
has risen again

bringing a fire
that no water can drown

So here where the body
has its house
and see here my soul

the cup of love has made the one
drunk
and the other a ruin

For a gifted poet to devote a large portion of his career sharing the works of Asian masters is a gift to us, as readers. This is a splendid collection. As Merwin states: 'The practice of translation is plainly impossible and nevertheless indispensable.' Grady Harp, November 06

My biased view:
The short pieces are siimply fantastic. Witty, profound, or ironic - they capture so much in a few lines. Tantalizing!
The other translations are splendid too.
(The long rhymed poem left me out in the shed. Couldn't take it.
But the whole book is a must-have!)

Lovely and brilliant! Even if Merwin doesn't "know" any asian languages, he sure pulls one over gorgeously with these works- with great help from the various asian translator/collaborators. Read carefully of the Muso Soseki poems, read them into your own being, and you can't help to radiate joy as the poems wash through you!