W.S. Merwin and "Losing a Language" Flashcards

Flashcards covering the biography of poet W.S. Merwin and the key themes and imagery in his poem "Losing a Language."

W.S. Merwin

A poet born in New York City in 1927 who authored over thirty volumes of poetry, prose, and translation, serving as U.S. Poet Laureate from 2010 to 2011.

A Mask for Janus (1952)

The first book written by W.S. Merwin, which was selected for the Yale Younger Poets Prize.

The Carrier of Ladders

The poetry collection for which W.S. Merwin received his first Pulitzer Award in 1971.

The Shadow of Sirius

The poetry collection for which W.S. Merwin received his second Pulitzer Award in 2009.

Zen Buddhism

The philosophy that W.S. Merwin moved to Hawaii in the late 1970's to study.

Maui

The Hawaiian island where W.S. Merwin lives on a former pineapple plantation.

The Rain in the Trees

The 1988 collection from which the poem "Losing a Language" is taken.

The noun for standing in mist by a haunted tree

An example cited in the poem of a specific word describing something that no longer exists.

The verb for I

A linguistic element mentioned in the poem that the children will not repeat.

New owners

The figures in the poem who view the speakers as "wrong and dark."

Extinct feather

An object presented at the end of the poem as something the words were made to prophesy.