Call Number:

C1206

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 1 box
• 0.2 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); W. S. Merwin Collection, Box and Folder Number; Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1964-1969 (inclusive)

Creator:

Princeton University. Library. Special Collections and Merwin, W.S. (William Stanley), 1927-2019

Form:

Correspondence -- 20th century, Galley proofs -- 20th century, and Poems -- 20th century.

Abstract:

Consists of selected correspondence, manuscripts, and galler proofs of W. S. Merwin, one of the most influential American poets of the latter 20th century.

W. S. (William Stanley) Merwin is one of the most influential American poets of the latter 20th century. Graduating from Princeton University in 1948, Merwin made a name for himself as an anti-war poet during the 1960's. Later, he evolved toward mythological themes and developed a unique prosody characterized by indirect narration and the absence of punctuation. His works include A Masque for Janus (1952), The Carrier of Ladders (1970), which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1971, and Migration: New & Selected Poems (2005).

The collection consists of selected correspondence, manuscripts, and galley proofs of Merwin. There are nine letters by Merwin to poetry editor Stephen Berg, addressed from France and dating from 10 August 1966 to 19 August 1969. Accompanying his letters are a short autobiographical statement, twenty-one typed poems (mostly carbons), and one prose article entitled "An Open Form" (signed typescript, 2 pp., with holograph corrections) . The poems include "Fear," "A Debt," "It Is March," and "The River of Bees." A galley proof of Merwin's 1963 book of poems called Moving Target includes marginal notations in pencil by Prof. Thomas Roche. In addition, there is one autograph letter by Merwin to Princeton University's recording secretary, Frederick Fox, dated 15 March 1964.

Folders are arranged by accession number.