The Vixen: Poems

by W.S. Merwin

A remarkable volume of poems about the people, countryside, and creatures of southwest France—f rom the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and “one of the greatest poets of our age … the Thoreau of our era” (Edward Hirsch).

“One of the most distinctive and original voices in American poetry" ( The New Yorker ) and winner of the Marshall, Bollingen, Pulitzer, and other important prizes for mastery of his art delivers a major collection.

Genres: Poetry, 20th Century

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

William Stanley Merwin was an American poet, credited with over fifty books of poetry, translation and prose.

William Stanley Merwin (September 30, 1927 – March 15, 2019) was an American poet who wrote more than fifty books of poetry and prose, and produced many works in translation. During the 1960s anti-war movement, Merwin's unique craft was thematically characterized by indirect, unpunctuated narration. In the 1980s and 1990s, his writing influence derived from an interest in Buddhist philosophy and deep ecology. Residing in a rural part of Maui, Hawaii, he wrote prolifically and was dedicated to the restoration of the island's rainforests.

Merwin received many honors, including the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1971 and 2009; the National Book Award for Poetry in 2005, and the Tanning Prize—one of the highest honors bestowed by the Academy of American Poets—as well as the Golden Wreath of the Struga Poetry Evenings. In 2010, the Library of Congress named him the 17th United States Poet Laureate.

Reviews

[William2 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hypnotic 12-syllable or so non-end rhymed lines in an unpunctuated, epigrammatically precise run-on-sentence style that often engages with landscape and nature, memory and lifetimes (not the dread of death so much as an awareness of the lived span). Striking use of verbs so the mind’s eye is constantly moving, seeing. I know that for many years Merwin lived in the Dordogne and much of his imagery, the habits of rural people, the moods of landcape, the rituals of daily life, come from that time before he moved to Hawaii. Merwin is among my very favorite poets, up there with Philip Levine, Anna Akhmatova, Pablo Neruda and Philip Larkin to mention a few. I particularly recommend the poems “Fox Sleep,” “Romanesque,” “The View,” “Old Walls” and “Upland House.” Moving on now to his earlier Travels.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure I would have stuck with this collection or appreciated it as much as I do if I was not taking a course on Merwin and thinking through it with talented teachers.

The style of the poems–the long lines, the swaying indents, the lack of punctuation, the dense thicket of words–can create a lull that's easy to get lost in, and I did. But having the focus of a class and some guide posts really helped me to take a more active role and climb out of the lull. Or just embrace it and engage with it, at times.

There are also some just straight up bangers, no matter what. Overall, a great collection and one I'm glad I was supported in approaching and appreciating.

[Peggy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marvelous long-lined poems full of detail about Merwin' home in southwest France. Published in 1995, the poems in the book describe a way of life that seems closer to the 19th century than the 21st. Of course Merwin shapes each poem to end in the cosmic shapeless void that is the fate of all life on earth. These are not the most accessible poems but their syntax plunges the reader into the beautiful French landscape in a way that feels immersive and real. Many rewards await in this essential volume.

[Humphrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Moving from a collection of short-lined Merwin to long-lined Merwin is a surprisingly abrupt experience. The syntactic (non-punctuation) style is the same; the themes are the same; the subjects often draw from the same pool; the phrasing, even down to the vocabulary, is the same. And yet, the sheer additional line length generates a totally different and much slower pacing, which given Merwin's typical subdued tone, here reads elegaic. Even more here than elsewhere, Merwin is content to let his poems simply be rather than bring them to a point. This results in a lot of poems that are pleasant reads but do not necessarily stand out (even when they have 'standout' lines). In this sense, it is more of a collective collection than ever. I loved White Morning, Forgotten Streams, Season, and The View.

[Christina]

Listen. I'm sure this is a great book of poems, but the lack of punctuation is REALLY getting to me. I understand that it's a stylistic choice, and I don't mind, conceptually, that he did it. But actually? It's so hard to read. I feel like I'm slogging through this book, and I had wanted to enjoy it as much as I enjoyed his poem Thanks. I really admire the guy! But i don't want to spend my whole life reading this book, and that's the pace we're working with here, so I'm gonna move this off my "reading" shelf and somewhere far away, to be revisited at a later date.

[Stephen Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a fan of W.S. Merwin; a few years ago, I went on a real tear and read around fifteen of his books; I stopped with the book right before this one, so now I'm back to read on some more. This book focuses on the countryside, people and wildlife of rural France and it's, you know, really good.

[Lindsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another W.S. Merwin favorite--I especially like his negative capability with the fox.

[Tim Nason · Rating 5 out of 5]

5⭐️ We loved the meditations about a particular region of a decaying French landscape and its vanished people recalled in memory during a return visit.

[Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though I'm in no way religiously tied to any poetic form by ideology, there is far too much flat narrative poetry around.
How many time have I read material that makes it into a prominent magazine in which the words are well chosen, the enjambment thoughtful, the subject matter important (in its small way), and the poem like hundreds of other well-crafted poems that bore me to death with their predictability.
Merwin is brilliant because, confident and well establish, he writes in such a way that you are alive in his world, which in this case is a reflection on the years he spent in France. It used to be that Merwin was known as the guy who got rid of punctuation, but such a facile riff has been blown away by the fact that Merwin is one of our greatest writers.
His narrative technique is honed by his many years writing and is full of surprises. Each sentence yields precious and semi-precious stones, even after continual excavation.
I read this book intensively over a month and a half and finished it thinking: To write like this is a miracle. There is only one other writer I've felt about that recently and that is Witsawa Szymborska. Okay, and Samuel Beckett.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Something sad about this book is that it is almost an entire book about a certain place (I suppose somewhere in France) where Mr. Merwin lived for probably no more than a year in his 20s, and the book was out in 1996, which was in his 60s. The place is so acutely remembered, but so obviously lost for good. Is he doing this from memory? I don't like his decision to abandon punctuation, it makes reading laborious and I can never tell if something is obtuse because he intends it to be, or if I just haven't paused in the right place.

[Kent · Rating 4 out of 5]

It feels as though Merwin is always on the verge of truly welding together deep image, pastoral, and indeterminate sentence structure. He is slippery in places with his grammar. But the commitment just isn't complete. The fable voice is too strong in him, and where I would like to see it shifted into a new sense, or a hybrid incarnation matching his lack of punctuation. It just doesn't happen.

[Randy Cauthen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is tremendous when it deals with conjunctions between WSM's own history/memory in his 70s and the landscape around him. Don't like it quite so much when he's exploring local (i.e., South of France) historical figures. Nonetheless, Cauthen's Law may be wrong, and American poets perhaps should, occasionally, be allowed to go to France. Possibly even Spain and Italy.

[Stan · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a slog! I had to force myself to keep going. I get so irritated when sentence ends and beginnings are unmarked. In something lyrical or impressionistic I can deal with it, but these are narrative poems. So irritated by this book!

[Dave H · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this up after reading Merwin in some anthology. I couldn't get into it and still haven't finished the thing. Sorry, Merwin.

[Jon Thompson]

Haunting meditation on place, time, history & memory. Rooted in observations of the French countryside, Merwin's collection achieves a rare fluidity and power..

[Dman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful writing, so full of loss, history, aging, place, etc, etc.
Remains one of my favorite books.

[Ghaggard · Rating 5 out of 5]

So love this book. Read it again and again

[Constance Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore Merwin. The Vixen is a collection to get comfy with; have some tea, wrap your tail around all snug, and fall into the beauty of these poems.