William Stanley Merwin, an American poet was born on September 30, 1927. He is most famous for his anti war poems during the 1960’s. Throughout his writing career his writing’s shifted from many different themes. He wrote about mythological themes, and also showed interest in Buddhist philosophy and deep ecology. During his writing career he received many awards for his poetry. Some included the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the Tanning Prize. One interesting fact about Merwin is that he is also a translator for Latin, Spanish, and French poems.
The poem I have specifically read for this poet is called “For the Anniversary of My Death” is a description of Merwin’s vision of what his death will be like. In the first part of the poem he talk about what goes on when he is alive, but by the second part he refers to everything he talks about in past tense, meaning this is what happens to him when he died. One part that caught my attention was when he says “when the last fires will wave to me.” The fire could be a metaphor for many things. In my opinion the fire is people that are alive. When we die our bodies are cold, but when we are alive our bodies are warm like the flame of a fire. So this line means that when the last people wave goodbye to me.
The last three lines in the first stanza are also metaphorical. He sees death as something quiet, and after he passes on his soul will travel on forever. It will never get tired. “like the beam of a lightless star” is a metaphor because many of the stars we see in the sky today are dead or millions of years old. This shows that even though they are “dead” they carry on forever. In the last stanza he realizes what he has lost now that he passed on. He will no longer feel the love of a woman, or the “shamelessness” of a man.
The last line in the poem is the most powerful. “Bowing not knowing to what.” While we are alive, people have many beliefs of their god and what it is. We have visions of what they look like or what heaven and hell represent. The fact is, we will never know what will happen until we actually pass on. His last line infers that once he gets to that higher place, he is unsure of what it is.
After exploring more of Merwin’s poems I came across another that caught my interest. “When You Go Away” is about a person who has lost someone dearly. In my opinion they were the cause of that person leaving. It is not the same type of loss like a death. It is more toward the loss of a partner. His poems seem to be about experiences that a person comes to face at one time or another throughout their lifetime. Based on the poems I have read by him I don’t think his writings really characterized any type of specific American way. The ones I have read were all about feeling and experiences that all people feel.

link to poems by W.S Merwin
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/when-you-go-away/
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/for-the-anniversary-of-my-death/