W. S. Merwin: 02-29-1968

Abstract

Merwin discusses his changing poetic style, saying that he never stays excited about any style for very long, and that he now wants to write about direct experiences. He talks about the gradual abandonment of punctuation in his poems and the reliance on the language of a poem that a lack of punctuation highlights. Merwin also talks about the inability to shut the politics of the day out of his poems, and the "mutual revulsion" between art and topicality.