The Carrier of Ladders (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: W. S. Merwin
- First Published: 1970
- Type of Work: Poetry
- Genres: Poetry
- Subjects: Teaching or teachers, History, Suffering, United States or Americans, Mythology or myths, Dreams, West, U.S., Human race, Pain, Conquest, Exploration or explorers, Sleep
The metaphor implicit in the title of The Carrier of Ladders signals a change, however slight, in Merwin's orientation and attitudes: Only humans carry ladders, and their object in so doing is to rise, to climb to a new level, even if they do not know exactly what they will find there. The poems in the volume mostly build on this premise. The opening poem, “Teachers,” sets the pattern. The speaker is not clear about much. His surroundings witness mostly pain, but he finds some solace in sleep, and sleep brings dreams in which he remembers learning from books of voyages, the...
[The entire page is 615 words long]
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