To The Book By W. W Merwin Poem

The author, W.S. Merwin, uses a paternal tone with varying intensity to personify his book and make it a child being released into the world alone.

“Go on then

In your own time

This is as far

As I will take you

I am leaving your words with you

As through they has been yours

All the time”

(W. S. Merwin)

Above is the opening stanza of the poem “To the Book”. This stanza begins to set the overall tone and audience of the poem. The first line of the poem, “go on then”, sets a harsh tone. As if the author or speaker of the poem is commanding the unknown audience to leave them. This is the same diction a parent would use to tell a child to get away or do to something. The author uses this tone to inform the reader as to his sentiments on the book. This would be considered a harsh statement it seen alone, but the following like softens it entirely, adding, “in your own time”. By adding this, the author implies a sense of fondness to the audience. As if Merwin did not want to pressure them into doing something to quickly. The idea of a parent-child sort of relationship is continued. This is shown by the fond, yet firm tone that he uses to talk to the audience of this poem. At this point in the poem, the audience is unclear. All that can be known is that the title of the poem implies that the poem is directed to the book of poems itself, as if it is a love note from a parent to a child. The stanza then continues this tone toward the audience in the following line, “as I will take you.” These words become a sort of delay in the poem. As if the author is reluctant to let go of the poem, in a similar manner of a parent dropping a child off at school.

The next part of the sets itself separately from the beginning of the poem, and allows the...

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...n to take it itself. Following these lines mark a shift in the author’s audience for the final time.

The last lines read,

“Whoever I was

When I made you up”

(W.S. Merwin)

these lines are again the author addressing himself. He is quantifying his writing. The lines function as a caveat to the entire poem. He abdicates responsibility and disassociates himself from the rest of the poem. IN these lines he is saying that he is no longer the same author of the poem or the book. He can not possibly held responsible for the book if he did not write it. The lines diction also causes the reader to get the feeling that the author has completely let go of his work. The author uses the word “whoever” and the phrase “made you up” to end the poem in an off the cuff manner. The author ends the poem by letting the child go, like a parent sending their child into the world alone.