The Shadow of Sirius

I am reading a poem a day aloud to myself. The language is so beautiful it needs to be spoken and heard.

I think it was David Byrne who said something along the lines of, "Talking about art is like dancing about architecture." Apologies if I've misappropriated and mangled the quote, but the point is still there: How does one talk about something that is intended to take you to places beyond descriptive realms via the primary tool of description (language)? I guess one could just say, "It did," or, "It didn't," but then, perhaps, it would be more interesting to talk about how spiritually moving were the textures of the shipping carton, containing the book.This is my first in-depth exposure to Merwin (my educational background is not literature), and I have a lurking fear that, as respected as he is, his other works might be slightly disappointing to me. This is because I have found, The Shadow of Sirius, to be one of the most powerful works of contemporary poetry that I have encountered, along with Louise Glück's, The Wild Iris. What these poets do is deliver me into a realm of aesthetic experience with profound spiritual beauty. There is such thing as "aesthetic knowledge," and Merwin and Glück are educators.Merwin writes of the realm of spirit, whether directly or indirectly, often citing nature and the elements. In fact, shortly after I started the book, I began an index of about 20 commonly used words. Some of the most common are: birds, leaves (or trees), sunlight (or sun, or light), morning, night, seasons (spring, fall, etc.), words (or language, or names), and singing (or voice, or music, or song). So it is the forces of spirit as forces of nature (or vice versa) that move Merwin to poetic song. Magically, mystically, he carries and delivers the reader into realms of spiritual experience beyond description.This is profoundly beautiful work.

I do not read a lot of poetry and was not familiar with Merwin, but some of the Pulitzer reviews piqued my interest in The Shadow of Sirius. The short, somber poems in this volume use deceptively simple language and are pared of all punctuation except a beginning capital letter. It almost seems that each poem is an unwinding thought that the poet does not want to impede and wishes to leave reverberating in the air like a musician leaves his final note. The line breaks appear carefully arranged to emphasize ideas or words. Words and word choice are important to Merwin, who also worked for many years as a translator, but the inability of words fully to articulate experience is also an issue.This slim volume is divided into three sections that deal loosely with youth, Merwin's dead dogs, and age. In interpreting the poems, the reader would gain by knowing some facts about the poet. For example, "the black dog" in section two refers to Merwin's black chow who went blind. Merwin now has some problems with his eyes, lived a time in France where he had an old house, reveres the natural environment, was the son of a minister, had a bleak childhood, is now a Zen Buddhist. These facts leave a print on his poems. It is possible to say that the poems are about memory, darkness, light, seasons, dogs, birds, parents and that the poems are are about something beyond their subjects.None of the poems explain the books title, nor does the subject of Sirius come up anywhere. Since Sirius has a smaller shadow star, perhaps Merwin refers with this title to his process of poetry that contains both the desire to capture the flute music and the knowledge this it is impossible.

In The Shadow of Sirius Merwin uses his trademark style of being able to convey lines and sentences and whole narratives without the need of punctuation. His readability is one of his trademarks. These poems seem to dwell on the theme of memory, age, and nature. Each poem, and the entire collection as a whole, leaves the reader with a sense of satisfaction and now a sense of sadness that this great poet is no longer with us, after over fifty books during his long and distinguished career.

This book won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. I have never been a huge fan of poetry, but this book is full of poems that go directly into the heart and soul. The beauty and connection of each poem to me and my life lifted this book to number one for me. I am a voracious reader, so this is the highest praise I can give. Well worth reading for the beginner in poetry reading or the most advanced. Run, do not walk, to the nearest store and obtain a copy. You will love it~ You will be enriched beyond measure by it.

Great book of poetry. I am not an expert, so I am speaking as an average reader. I find the words that are written paint a graphic picture of the content the author is trying to get across. I have always wanted to read more poetry, but have a hard time reading some of the classic texts. This was the first time I have been able to read the tome from cover to cover.The book got here fast.

Wow. How had I missed W.S. Merwin? I've been reading poetry for forty years, and just "discovered" his work. I also bought the anthology; I love the way his writing evolved from formal to free-form.

After hearing a review of this book on NPR and discussion with the author, W.S. Merwin, I knew I had to purchase it. I'm so glad I did! I can open to any page and enjoy the beautiful turn of phrase and imagery that Merwin offers. It's my favorite book of poetry to date. I'm particularly fond of the poem on page 91, One of the Butterflies. I highly recommend this book!

There's a solidity and weight to Merwin's latest collection, a deliberateness, a sure-footed arrangement of words that can only come from time. That this precision is brought to bear against that very element that has enabled its existence, makes for a calmly intense volume that ponders with the experience of a lifetime, what it means to be alive.Time loops, reverses and engages in the impossible throughout these poems; its inexorable forward motion, year on year, subject to the ebb and flow of memory:I will be asleep and I willwake up far awaywe are going southwhere I know that my fatheris going to diebut I will grow up before he does thatMemory plays tricks and condenses time so that the past flattens and long-gone events return with the uncanny sense of having occurred only moments ago. Memory is notoriously unreliable. Memory haunts this volume; the eponymous "shadow" perhaps, cast by a life, admitted: "I have only what I remember".The Shadow of Sirius is divided into 3 unequal parts. The first dealing more overtly with the past, where Merwin's travelling through distant times becomes our present. The second, shorter section, is dedicated to his dogs (the origins of "Sirius"?) and explores the spaces that death leaves in life. The final, longest part of the collection is thematically eclectic, abstract in nature, where time and memory seem to bring an extra depth and quality of feeling to the paintings on a wall, a landscape, a month of the year.Merwin's poetry has condensed into free verse, not only free from formal constraints, but language freed from punctuation. Such unfettered poems in any lesser poet might cause the reader problems, but his language has outgrown conventions, and offers meaning we read as we do the rhythm of waves, or the twinkling of a star. Despite the chaos this might suggest, there is a diamond hardness to the placement of words; language made precise over a lifetime of experimentation.It is impossible to try and capture the essence of this volume of poetry in a review, when what it speaks of is something that we will all come to know through the process of living. It feels like a gift from someone who, having surveyed our whole life, has kindly noted for us its most intense pleasures and pains. Honest, simple and moving, this is a collection to grow old with, for these poems "have come the whole way/they have been there"Merwin received the 2009 Pulitzer Prize (his second!) for The Shadow of Sirius, and was appointed US Poet Laureate earlier this year (2010). He is currently working on a new collection...

Nothing to dislike. Having read "The Essential W S Merwin and listened to old recordings of him reading, I wanted to have the full collection "The Shadow of Sirius". Every page is a gift from this wonderful poet; it is a volume I will keep by me rather than on the book shelf. His poetry responds to repeated reading; his heart and mind were, and remain in his writing, so relevant for today's world. Thank you William.

I came away from this collection with mixed feelings. The themes and ideas in the poems were compelling and sensitively explored, however it also emphased for me the value of punctuation... in quite a few places the poems jarred and I lost the flow in my attempt to make sense of the structure.

very good