Learning a Dead Language (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: W. S. Merwin
- First Published: 1956
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Language or languages, Communication, Speech, Silence, Grammar
The Poem
W. S. Merwin’s “Learning a Dead Language” begins with a stark and disconcerting statement that takes the breath from one’s lungs: “There is nothing for you to say.” The poem ends with the same statement. In between, the reader is told how to learn a dead language. One must listen and listen again, and remember even when what one remembers doesn’t make sense. A language can only make sense, the poem implies, all at once. Imagine staring at Egyptian hieroglyphs before the Rosetta Stone was found, staring and staring again, memorizing the physical forms of...
[The entire page is 1324 words long]
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