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baelgia's review
4.0
Favs: Youth, Nocturne, Unknown Age, Recognitions, Heartland, To Paula in Late Spring, One of the Butterflies, Lights Out
Also: The Pinnacle, The Piano, Secrets, Calling a Distant Animal, At the Bend, The Long and Short of It, The Morning Hills, September's Child
Also: The Pinnacle, The Piano, Secrets, Calling a Distant Animal, At the Bend, The Long and Short of It, The Morning Hills, September's Child
jonjeffryes's review
3.0
I'm not sure I get poetry. And nature poetry is definitely not my favorite, but still some good stuff in this book. I'll take the mulligan on this one...it's probably not the fault of the two-time Pulitzer winner.
csnow33's review
2.0
I'm starting to be less and less surprised when I'm disappointed by award-winning things. The fact that this collection won a Pulitzer no longer shocks me.
While there were a few lines that I think were genuinely noteworthy, the vast majority of this can be summed up as intellectually lazy. It's not saying anything I haven't heard a thousand times before in more interesting and nuanced ways. Humans age, forget things, and die. Those who are left behind mourn them and wonder what happens beyond death. Also, space is awesome. Yes, yes, yes. I know that already.
Merwin uses simple, common language to talk about complex topics like moments of existentialism, fading memories, and death. However, because his language is straightforward, there's not much to what he's saying. It reads like a smart, well-intentioned high schooler who lacks the life experience to understand his "deep" poetry is not actually as "deep" as they think it is (which is surprising because Merwin has both the life and writing experience to have successfully pulled this off). Once you read a poem, you get it, and there's little to no re-read value because there's nothing profound to dissect.
Other technical issues I had with these poems include the wasted stylistic choice to not use punctuation or capitalization. It had no bearing on the overall meaning and if anything just messed up the flow. There were times when it was legitimately infuriating in its tediousness because the line breaks meant nothing and there's no punctuation to tell me where one mundane thought stops and another begins.
While there were a few lines that I think were genuinely noteworthy, the vast majority of this can be summed up as intellectually lazy. It's not saying anything I haven't heard a thousand times before in more interesting and nuanced ways. Humans age, forget things, and die. Those who are left behind mourn them and wonder what happens beyond death. Also, space is awesome. Yes, yes, yes. I know that already.
Merwin uses simple, common language to talk about complex topics like moments of existentialism, fading memories, and death. However, because his language is straightforward, there's not much to what he's saying. It reads like a smart, well-intentioned high schooler who lacks the life experience to understand his "deep" poetry is not actually as "deep" as they think it is (which is surprising because Merwin has both the life and writing experience to have successfully pulled this off). Once you read a poem, you get it, and there's little to no re-read value because there's nothing profound to dissect.
Other technical issues I had with these poems include the wasted stylistic choice to not use punctuation or capitalization. It had no bearing on the overall meaning and if anything just messed up the flow. There were times when it was legitimately infuriating in its tediousness because the line breaks meant nothing and there's no punctuation to tell me where one mundane thought stops and another begins.
wealhtheow's review
4.0
I love Merwin's poetry, which has a little sarcastic edge to it sometimes but always a sense of wonder and hope tinged with loss. Not much regret, though, and I like that. He writes with a sense of acceptance that I wish I had myself. I like his deceptively clear and simple style, as well. He says a lot in a very little while.
My favorite in this book was "Youth,"
Through all of youth I was looking for you
without knowing what I was looking for
or what to call you I think I did not
even know I was looking how would I
have known you when I saw you as I did
time after time when you appeared to me
as you did naked offering yourself
entirely at that moment and you let
me breathe you touch you taste you knowing
no more than I did and only when I
began to think of losing you did I
recognize you when you were already
part memory part distance remaining
mine in the ways that I learn to miss you
from what we cannot hold the stars are made
My favorite in this book was "Youth,"
Through all of youth I was looking for you
without knowing what I was looking for
or what to call you I think I did not
even know I was looking how would I
have known you when I saw you as I did
time after time when you appeared to me
as you did naked offering yourself
entirely at that moment and you let
me breathe you touch you taste you knowing
no more than I did and only when I
began to think of losing you did I
recognize you when you were already
part memory part distance remaining
mine in the ways that I learn to miss you
from what we cannot hold the stars are made
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