W. S. Merwin
| W. S. Merwin | |
|---|---|
| Born |
September 30, 1927 New York City |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, PA 1944 |
| Alma mater | Princeton University |
| Period | 1952– |
| Genre | Poetry, prose, translation |
| Notable awards |
PEN Translation Prize 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry 1971, 2009 Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry 1990 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize 1994 Tanning Prize 1994 National Book Award 2005 United States Poet Laureate 2010 |
| Spouse | Dorothy Jeanne Ferry Dido Milroy Paula Schwartz (1983–present) |
William Stanley Merwin (born September 30, 1927) is an American poet, credited with over fifty books of poetry, translation and prose. During the 1960s anti-war movement, Merwin's unique craft was thematically characterized by indirect, unpunctuated narration. In the 1980s and 1990s, Merwin's writing influence derived from his interest in Buddhist philosophy and deep ecology. Residing in a rural part of Maui, Hawaii, he writes prolifically and is dedicated to the restoration of the islands' rainforests.
Merwin has received many honors, including the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (in both 1971 and 2009), the National Book Award for Poetry (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 Merwin the seventeenth United States Poet Laureate to replace the outgoing Kay Ryan. Following his receiving the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2009, Merwin is recognized as one of the principal contributors to poetry in the early 21st century.
W. S. Merwin was born in New York City on September 30, 1927. He grew up on the corner of Fourth Street and New York Avenue in Union City, New Jersey until 1936, when his family moved to Scranton, Pennsylvania. As a child, he was enamored of the natural world, sometimes finding himself talking to the large tree in his back yard. He was also fascinated with things that he saw as links to the past, such as the building behind his home that had once been a barn that housed a horse and carriage. At the age of five he started writing hymns for his father, who was a Presbyterian minister.
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