W. S. Merwin

Mr. Merwin was introduced as perhaps the greatest poet of the 20th century, and now also the 21st century, still living today.  He is an award winning author and a former US Poet Laureate.  I must admit that I have not read much English or American poetry, and I have never before heard it read by one who is as accomplished as Mr. Merwin.  It was truly an educational experience.
Before he began his reading, he addressed a few questions from the audience.  One that stood out to me in particular was his response to a question of the social function of poetry.  He presented a quite humble response, saying that it is far too controversial, and the range of opinions stretch far to wide for him to feel comfortable saying yea or nay.  However, he did mention that a social agenda ought not to be the primary purpose of one's poems.  Rather, one ought to express one's thoughts and emotions as they cannot be expressed in any other way.  He said that poetry exists to "say the unsay-able".  That being said, he did also admit that a common theme of his writings is to express distrust in the idea of "increase, multiply and have dominion over the earth".  His desire is that all mankind should open its collective eye to the suffering and destruction which we have inflicted upon all living organisms on this earth.  According to Mr. Merwin, we need to take better care of ourselves, the environment, and all the plants and creatures that dwell around us.  His poems which I remember best are "Fly", "Chord", "Dusk in Winter", and "Vixen".  All of them are very environmentally conscious in their content.  They also had a smooth, almost fluid rhythm to them, which was quite pleasant to hear.
My biggest disappointment was that I came nowhere near falling in love with his works.  I consider myself to be very well-read in Russian prose and poetry for a non-Russian.  From Pushkin to Lermontov, from Blok to Mandelshtam to Akhmatova, I feel that their issues are more universally penetrating to the soul of man.  The exact words often will not apply, but the internal struggles, the thoughts and questions of the soul seem so much more real to me.  I did not get that feeling from Mr. Merwin's poems.