Posted at 6:19 p.m., Monday, October 22, 2007
Hawaii poet W.S. Merwin awarded Bobbitt Prize
Advertiser Staff
W.S. Merwin has been awarded the Bobbitt Prize from the Library of Congress for his most recent book of poetry, "Present Company," published by Copper Canyon Press. The $10,000 cash award honors the best book of poetry published by an American during the previous two years."Moral insistence and linguistic daring are the measures of Merwin's honored and prolific career," said Michael Wiegers, Executive Editor of Copper Canyon Press. "He has always progressed, pushing himself forward, toward a perfect poetry steeped in deeply held beliefs and set forth in the purest language possible. This is a well deserved honor for a sublime book and master poet."
Merwin lives in Hawaii, which has often figured in his work.
"Present Company," Merwin's 24th book of poems, addresses the experiences of daily life, including mosquitoes, salt, forgetting and theft at airports.
In reviewing the book, Booklist magazine noted, "Merwin keeps his language simple but his perceptions complex." Library Journal wrote, "he attempts to tease out the essence of things."
Merwin, who was called "one of the great poets of our age" in the Los Angeles Times Book Review, has received nearly every major literary award, including the Pulitzer Prize and, most recently, the 2005 National Book Award for his selected poems, Migration.
The Bobbitt Prize will be formally awarded at a ceremony at the Library of Congress on Oct. 31.
The Bobbitt Award is given in memory of Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt of Austin, Texas, who was the sister of Lyndon B. Johnson. As a graduate student in the 1930s, Ms. Bobbitt was an employee at the Library of Congress, where she met fellow student and worker O.P. Bobbitt whom she later married. After her death, Mr. Bobbitt and his son, Philip, endowed a memorial in her honor.
