The Second Four Books of Poems: The Moving Target / The Lice / The Carrier of Ladders / Writings to an Unfinished Accompaniment [Paperback]

W. S. Merwin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1992

W.S. Merwin was born in New York City in 1927 and grew up in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He worked as a tutor in France, Portugal, and Majorca, and has translated from French, Spanish, Latin and Portugese. He has published more than a dozen volumes of orignal poetry and several volumes of prose. Mr. Merwin has been awarded the Tanning Prize, the Pulitzer and Bollingen prizes, the Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets, the Shelley Memorial Award, the Pen Translation Prize, and many other honors. He lives in Haiku, Hawaii.

W.S. Merwin's Second Four Books of Poems includes some of the most startlingly original and influential poetry of the second half of this century, a poetry that has moved, as Richard Howard has written, "from preterition to presence to prophecy."

Other books by M.S. Merwin available from Consortium:
East Window (Copper Canyon Press), 1-55659-091-1
The First Four Books of Poems (Copper Canyon Press), 1-55659-139-X
Flower & Hand (Copper Canyon Press), 1-55659-119-5

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The prolific, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet's collections The Moving Target , The Lice , The Carrier of Ladders and Writings to an Unfinished Accompaniment are themselves collected.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Though his style has varied over 50 years, this poet remains "part Emerson, part Dylan Thomas, but all Merwin" (Vixen, LJ 1/96).
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Copper Canyon Press (July 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556590547
• ISBN-13: 978-1556590542
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #385,892 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

W.S. Merwin is the 17th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry of the United States. He is the author of over fifty books of poetry, prose, and translations. He has earned every major literary prize, most recently the National Book Award for 'Migration: New and Selected Poems' and the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for 'The Shadow of Sirius.' He lives in Hawaii where he raises endangered palm trees.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't know how he does it, April 12, 2008

By 

Leopold Bloom (USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Second Four Books of Poems: The Moving Target / The Lice / The Carrier of Ladders / Writings to an Unfinished Accompaniment (Paperback)

I had read "The Carrier of Ladders" in a college class in the 1980s, and recall not being particularly impressed. Clearly, I wasn't ready for Merwin's supremely focused and near-mystical artistry. I purchased this collection recently after hearing a recording of Merwin reading "The Last One" from "The Lice." What is most remarkable is his ability to express the most complex thoughts in simple language, and often, in very short pieces. By that I mean, there are probably no words in any of these poems that would not be readily understood by an intelligent ten-year-old. Merwin's sentence structure and imagery, however, are of the highest order, and merit the most careful reading to fully absorb his meaning. The overall effect is so unique and astonishing, as to be akin to magic, especially in the later books when Merwin eschews punctuation. After reading these remarkable works, I have no doubt as to Merwin's place in the canon of great poets.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "We were not born to survive, only to live." --Merwin, September 27, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Second Four Books of Poems: The Moving Target / The Lice / The Carrier of Ladders / Writings to an Unfinished Accompaniment (Paperback)

Merwin touches the universal with specifics. Merwin's book bears a simplicity lacking in much of what we do today. His word choice in these poems rarely indicates they were written in the 1970's, but the style is poignantly modern nonetheless. As subjects, Merwin takes nature, aging and friendships. He peppers these with haunting feelings of hollowness, biblical allusions, and the occasional phrase that I cannot reconcile to the poems containing it. With Merwin, though, I remains content and know that a little ambiguity at the edges will keep me returning to the poem year after year.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favourite, April 14, 2011

By 

Preseva Mustafa "Mustafa Preseva" (istanbul, Turkey Turkey) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Second Four Books of Poems: The Moving Target / The Lice / The Carrier of Ladders / Writings to an Unfinished Accompaniment (Paperback)

Well, nothing to say except "this is my all time
favourite book of poems". Mervin is the universe
on his own term.