books by W. S. Merwin     books:       Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair: Dual Language Edition (Penguin Classics)39 reviews Pablo Neruda Penguin Classics, 2006 the most romantic book of love poems ever written perhaps this is the most romantic and most beautiful book of love poems ever written. every word, every stanza is so easily read, so quickly understood, like an arrow to the heard. give this gift to your lover and they will never forget it.             The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes (New York Review Books Classics)3 reviews NYRB Classics, 2004 Inspiring English translation One of the finest renditions into the English language of the Spanish novel "The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes", the fountainhead of the Picaresque in modern European narration.             Walden and Civil Disobedience (150th Anniversary) (Signet Classics)12 reviews Henry David Thoreau Signet Classics, 2004 He heard a different drummer- The sun is but a morning star Thoreau is more than simply a writer who produced a great American classic. He exemplified the idea which perhaps as much as any other has come to be at the heart of the American creed. "If a man does not keep pace to his companion, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." Throreau when he went into the woods of ...             The Dream Songs17 reviews John Berryman Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007 To like without much understanding I am not very knowledgable about Berryman and his work. I certainly have not read the poems with the time and intensity of a number of the reviewers on this site. I have an impression of Berryman and his work. It is of something vaguely likeable occaisionally able to provide a line which hits home. It is of a very variable voice in which the disorder and the breakdown somehow make the text too ...             Sir Gawain and the Green Knight7 reviews Knopf, 2004 Injects new life into this remarkable poem Since I suspect they will have similar audiences, I feel I should state right off the bat that W. S. Merwin's translation of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" is not quite at the level of Seamus Heaney's "Beowulf". Heaney created an absolute masterpiece; the type of translation that comes along only once every few generations, and which completely redefines the view of the subject matter. The ...             The Song of Roland (Modern Library Classics)2 reviews Modern Library, 2001 The slaughter and glory of battle The Song of Roland is the most famous of the "chansons de geste" (songs of deeds) of the Middle Ages. It provides a fascinating view into the spirit of warriors of that time and their motivation. The Song of Roland gives an idealized picture, of course, and if we can believe the historians, the medieval knights never lived up to their chivalric ideal. The Song of Roland is not commonly included ...             The Architect's Brother9 reviews Robert Parkeharrison, W. S. Merwin Twin Palms Publishers, 2000 The Architect's Brother Wow. That's how I'm going to start this off. My first inkling was to give the book four stars, you know, seem objective to the reader, maybe have a bigger influence. The truth is objectivity has nothing to do with this book. It is full of magic, suprise, wonder: nothing but true subjectivity. That is where its beauty lies, like a receiving a small bit of mail from an unknown sender, each ...             Migration: New & Selected Poems3 reviews W.S. Merwin Copper Canyon Press, 2007 W.S. Merwin: A Poet of Vision and Connection At last there is a significantly large volume of the majestic poetry of W.S. Merwin. Not that all of his other volumes of poems published through the years by Copper Canyon Press have been minor: the length of the books does not begin to mimic the towering power of his work. But here in MIGRATION: NEW & SELECTED POEMS we have enough of his life's work to truly appreciated the fact that he is ...             Iphigeneia at Aulis (Greek Tragedy in New Translations)8 reviews Euripides Oxford University Press, USA, 1992 Timely thoughts on the sacrifices of war This play contemplates the question of how many wars would be fought if the first to die were the children of the leaders themselves. The translation is quite readable but not strict, as a comparison of Greek with English line numbers quickly shows. The introductory essay and concluding notes on the play are especially helpful, placing the play in its historical context (the Peloponesian War) ...             In Parenthesis (New York Review Books) David Jones NYRB Classics, 2003 "This writing has to do with some things I saw, felt, and was part of": with quiet modesty, David Jones begins a work that is among the most powerful imaginative efforts to grapple with the carnage of the First World War, a book celebrated by W.B. Yeats and T.S. Eliot as one of the masterpieces of modern literature. Fusing poetry and prose, gutter talk and high music, wartime terror and ancient myth, Jones, who served as an infantryman on the ...             The Mays of Ventadorn (National Geographic Directions)2 reviews W.S. Merwin National Geographic, 2002 Enchanting If you ever wondered if medieval poetry and the lives of the people who wrote it was in some way intimidating or academic, `The Mays of Ventadorn` provides a truely unique way of experiencing it. W.S. Merwin, in his charateristic style, brings to life Ventadorn (places and personalities) the center of the troubadour universe by weaving his own personal relationship with the region, the era and ...             The Second Four Books of Poems: The Moving Target / The Lice / The Carrier of Ladders / Writings to an ...4 reviews W. S. Merwin Copper Canyon Press, 1992 If looking to define the feeling haunting you, read on. I suggest reading on, because I have a small but appropriate few sentences to write about Merwin. I first came across Merwin when I was assigned to find a poet I liked who was still living for a poetry class. That is to say, not living for my poetry class in particular, but, a poet still alive, so my known favorites, Solomon of the Superlative Song, William Morris, Eugene Fields or Henry W. ...             The Selected Poems of Osip Mandelstam (New York Review Books Classics)1 review Osip Mandelstam NYRB Classics, 2004 His poems living still MANDELSTAM We do not know the way to the darkness of the word or the excellent silence concealed inside our poems we only know the drumbeat of our own pain and the flickering madness of a land's best lights lost All we are and can be is a poem that will never come home again. Stalin's death is Russia's life The man Mandelstam murdered His poems living still.             The Lost Upland: Stories of Southwestern France W. S. Merwin Shoemaker & Hoard, 2004 In The Lost Upland, award-winning poet W. S. Merwin explores his intimate knowledge of the people and the countryside in what is the home of the Lascaux caves, an ancient part of southwestern France. In three narratives of small-town life, Merwin shows with unmatched poetic and narrative power how the past is still palpably present. These stories offer the reader a brilliantly evocative and loving portrayal of the French country people and their ...             Present Company2 reviews W.S. Merwin Copper Canyon Press, 2007 On Merwin: Words of Praise Fail How does one write critically about the abundant beauty of the poetry of W.S. Merwin? Long acclaimed as one of our most poignant and important poets, his newest collection is an endless stream of homages to fleeting thoughts, ideas, and other delicacies encounter by the informed eye and heart. Merwin keeps his language simple but continues to prod our senses with challenging concepts. In these ...             The First Four Books of Poems2 reviews W.S. Merwin Copper Canyon Press, 2000 Hard to read for the uninitiated This is very hard to get into unless you're familiar with Merwin's more contemporary works. In this volume of his first four poetry books, he explores themes familiar to us all: love, animals, folk tales, themes in nature, rivers, and death. His poems are almost all uniquely consistent with the same voice; there is none of the rising up and swelling of other poets, no rhythm to speak of, and one ...             The Shadow of Sirius W.S. Merwin Copper Canyon Press, 2008 "Merwin is one of the great poets of our age."- Los Angeles Times Book Review "The intentions of Merwin's poetry are as broad as the biosphere yet as intimate as a whisper."- The Atlantic The nuanced mysteries of light, darkness, presence, and memory are central themes in W.S. Merwin's new book of poems. "I have only what I remember," Merwin admits, and his memories are focused and profound-the distinct qualities of autumn light, a ...             Voices4 reviews Antonio Porchia Copper Canyon Press, 2003 Distillations Antonio Porchia (1886 - 1968) emigrated from his native Italy to Argentina where he became somewhat of an enigmatic poet, a poet while recognized during his lifetime is growing in popularity now, much to the superb translations by W.S. Merwin. Oddly enough Porchia's output was limited to one book, so becoming an avid fan of his thoughts placed so carefully on the printed page takes only a small ...             The Selected Poems of Federico Garcia Lorca2 reviews Federico Garcia Lorca, Francisco Garcia Lorca New Directions Publishing Corporation, 2005 Good, loud poems My husband used to read me this book when I was pregnant with my only child. The sound of the poems made her kick. Maybe the poems, but probably it was just the way he read them--in spanish--louder than he ever said anything. My husband never yelled, even when he was angry he just stayed by himself a bit, but he really used to get into these poems. From his childhood, I guess. He tried to ...              search for books accompaniment, anniversary, architect, classics, company, despair, directions, disobedience, edition, federico, geographic, iphigeneia, ladders, language, lazarillo, library, mandelstam, migration, national, parenthesis, penguin, present, selected, southwestern, stories, tragedy, translations, unfinished, ventadorn, writings books:    Kindle - Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device This is the future of book reading. I have used it and love it! randomly chosen book: The Art of Pastoring Contemplative Reflections home  impressum - about us