W. S. Merwin: April 26, 1961

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The Poetry Center presents W. S. Merwin reading from his collection The Drunk in the Furnace and unpublished poems.

Originally Recorded By
APA
Location
San Francisco State College, Downtown Center
Date
04/26/1961
Total Run Time
01:02:32
Contributor
Mark Linenthal
Rights
©© American Poetry Archives. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. For all other uses please email poetry@sfsu.edu
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  • Remarks by Mark Linenthal introducing W. S. Merwin as poet and translator (00:01)
  • Opening remarks by W. S. Merwin, saying that he will read work mainly from his latest collection of poems The Drunk in the Furnace (01:09)
  • Remarks on "A Choice of Prides" and Montaigne (02:36)
  • "A Choice of Prides" (04:09)
  • Further remarks on "A Choice of Prides" and begins remarks on "The Drunk in the Furnace," Brecht's Mother Courage, and Pennsylvania (05:43)
  • "The Drunk in the Furnace" (09:21)
  • Remarks on "Odysseus" (10:55)
  • "Odysseus" (11:48)
  • Remarks on "Sea Wife" as a counter-piece to "Odysseus" (12:52)
  • "Sea Wife" (13:49)
  • Further remarks on "Sea Wife" and "Small Woman on Swallow Street" (15:38)
  • "Small Woman on Swallow Street" (17:18)
  • Further remarks on "Small Woman on Swallow Street" and "Grandfather of the Old Men's Home" (18:46)
  • "Grandfather of the Old Men's Home" (20:52)
  • Remarks on "Grandmother Watching at Her Window" as a counter-piece to "Grandfather of the Old Men's Home" (22:16)
  • "Grandmother Watching at Her Window" (24:42)
  • Remarks on "One Eye" (25:57)
  • "One Eye" (26:39)
  • Remarks on his break in writing and the new poems after the break beginning with "Home for Thanksgiving" (29:06)
  • "Home for Thanksgiving" (30:45)
  • Remarks on "A Letter from Gussie" as a counter-piece to "Home for Thanksgiving" (33:34)
  • "A Letter from Gussie" (34:34)
  • Remarks on the next few poems' connections, beginning with "Views from the High Camp" (36:41)
  • "Views from the High Camp" (38:11)
  • Remarks on "Foreign Summer" (39:26)
  • "Foreign Summer" (39:57)
  • Remarks on "Acclimatization" (41:11)
  • "Acclimatization" (41:35)
  • Remarks on "Sire" (43:05)
  • "Sire" (43:40)
  • Remarks that the next three poems deal with "what you find yourself surrounded with" and that they are in prose (45:53)
  • "Savonarola" (46:59)
  • "No Man's Goody" (47:10)
  • "Lost Month" (47:37)
  • Remarks on the idea of "decision" in "The Nails" (48:40)
  • "The Nails" (49:43)
  • Remarks on "To My Brother Hanson" (51:41)
  • "To My Brother Hanson" (52:44)
  • Remarks that the next two poems are about "departures that haven't been made" (55:16)
  • "In the Night Fields" (55:39)
  • Remarks on "October" (57:02)
  • "October" (57:25)
  • Remarks on "Departure's Girlfriend" (58:31)
  • "Departure's Girlfriend" (59:08)
  • Remarks on "The Poem" (1:00:52)
  • "The Poem" (1:01:52)

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