The Shadow of Sirius (Pulitzer Prize Winner)

by W. S. Merwin

Overview

Winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. Mysteries of light, darkness, temporality, and eternity interweave throughout W.S. Merwin’s celebrated collection of poems, The Shadow of Sirius. “I have only what I remember,” Merwin admits, and his memories are focused and profound—Pennsylvania miners and neighborhood streetcars, a conversation with a boyhood teacher or deceased parent, the distinct qualities of autumnal light and gentle rain, well-cultivated loves, and “our long evenings and astonishment.” From the universe’s contradictions, Merwin once again calls upon the unexpected to illuminate existence.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781556593109
Publisher:	Copper Canyon Press
Publication date:	10/01/2009
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	130
Product dimensions:	6.04(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

W.S. Merwin 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. He lives in Hawaii where he raised endangered palm trees.

Editorial Reviews

"W.S. Merwin is one of the great poets of our age."—Los Angeles Times Book Review "[In] any landscape, Merwin stands tall."—Philadelphia Inquirer "Complex, spiritual, and evocative, Merwin is a major poet, and this is a sublime measure of his achievements."—Booklist "W. S. Merwin's legacy is unquestionably secure: his best and most fierce poems are moody, visionary compositions that dive into the unconscious and the seeds of existence."—Poetry

From the Publisher

As in all of his verse since the late 1960s, Merwin does away with punctuation, letting line breaks and sense determine syntax and pace. The results suggest whispers, laments, accounts of long-ago memories, even voices from an underworld
—The New York Times

Stephen Burt