A child looking at ruins grows younger
but cold
and wants to wake to a new name
I have been younger in October
than in all the months of spring
One tries not to get into the whole thing about reading meaning into a work of art by looking at the artist’s life, but with The Compass Flower, it’s hard to resist. In the late seventies, Merwin went through two life-changing events: he divorced from his wife & settled permanently in Hawaii (where he still lives to this day, as a matter of fact). I think it’s hard to deny that the luxurious nature and atmosphere of Hawaii was deeply inspirational and probably his divorce gave him a burst of freedom as well. With The Compass Flower, Merwin creates his most redemptive work up to that time. He’s revitalized in a lot of ways and the book is a stark contrast to his previous book, Writings for an Unfinished Accompaniment, which focused a lot on loss and loneliness. This book is divided into four sections and it’s his most expansive work so far, in my opinion. The first section is dedicated to nature poetry and it’s as beautiful as ever. The second section is an outlier, filled with poems about life in the modern city. It’s a subject I don’t recall Merwin really tackling before in a big way, so it’s of great interest. The third section has more nature poetry, but its main theme seems to be love and many of the poems are romantic and directed at a partner. The fourth section ranges far afield with poems about traveling and distant locales. Both in scope and, I think, in length, this is Merwin’s biggest book so far, but his energy is high enough to carry you right through with a smile on your face. It’s another masterpiece and, once again, Merwin’s raised the bar on himself. 4 stars.
tl;dr – longer, more expansive collection finds Merwin revitalized and full of energy; another masterpiece. 4 stars.