Ed Folsom and Cary Nelson interviewed W.S. Merwin in The Iowa Review, Volume 13 Issue 1, 1982: “The foolish thing is to take that world which we have made as the real, total, absolute final world, and say we have it — it’s ours.” Read more…

From the Archives: “Fact Has Two Faces: An Interview with W.S. Merwin.”

W.S. Merwin answers questions from an audience at the International Writing Program. He discusses how politics and the media can intervene in the life of an individual. Merwin also identifies poets that have influenced his work, with a specific focus on Spanish modern poets.

Audio only:

Christopher Merrill introduces the poet William S. Merwin who is speaking as part of the annual Paul Engle Day celebration that honors the memory of the IWP’s co-founder. Merwin reads the following poems ‘To the Light of September,’ ‘To the Words,’ ‘To the Grass of Autumn,’ ‘One Called to Ashes,’ and ‘To the Coming Winter.’ Merwin reads the following poems from his work The Pupil: ‘Prophecy,’ ‘The Comet Museum,’ ‘The Hours of Darkness,’ ‘The Marfalites,’ ‘The Summer’ ‘Plan for the Death of Ted Hughes,’ ‘In Time,’ ‘Home Tundra’ and ‘The Name of the Air.’ Merwin then reads the following poems that he has translated: ‘The Glory of Tellius’ and ‘To Friends of His.’